If Love Exists, Will I Find It?
by DarkestIllusions45
Summary: Asuka and Johan thought this was going to be an ordinary summer like usual, that is until a hyperactive cute merman turns up one night after a storm. With Asuka and Johan's lives turned completely upside-down, will they help the merman to find if love exists? Yaoi, JudaiXRyo, OC's, bad man Manjoume Jun and bad girl OC, rated M for future chapters, future lemonz, plz R&R, NO FLAMIMG
1. People appearing in fic

**Nexus: Hell everyone, I'm missed you all. I'm probably going to get a right bollocking off of all you now because I've paused Mermaid Melody, hidden series part 1 for what is going to be 3 weeks! I know, College has really been getting to me and with only 1 real day off, it's hard to keep up with fanfics. Well, to all of your disapproval, I'm starting a new fic and yes, I will finish the hidden series, I haven't stopped writing it don't worry. **

**This fic is a Yugioh GX Fanfic and I know a lot of people don't like GX but I like it. I also watch the Japanese version which is about 200million times better than the dubbed version. (4kids ruined many shows!) And yes, I'm using Japanese names so here's a translation list of everyone's names that I know I'm using in this story.**

**Japanese- English**

**Yuki Judai- Jaden Yuki**

**Tenjouin Asuka- Alexis Rhodes**

**Tenjouin Fubuki- Atticus Rhodes**

**Johan Anderson- Jesse Andersen**

**Marufuji Ryo- Zane Truesdale**

**Marafuji Shou- Syrus Truesdale**

**Manjoume Jun- Chazz Princeton**

**There is one other character I'm using but he's not from GX, Jounochi Katsuya- Joey Wheeler**

**And then there's OC's...**

**Marufuji Leo- one more addition to the family!**

**Mei and Yoruu- Judai's parents created for the purpose of this fanfic**

**Cherise- My own OC from a project, is going to be one of the baddies.**

**I won't say who everyone else plays yet, you can find that out in the next chapter, this was mainly just for giving character names sorry. I'll put the first actual chapter up this afternoon for you all. This also means... *glares at the Mermaid Melody crew who are sat in the corner still**

**Luchia: You mean you're**

**Kaito: Kicking us out!**

**Nexus: Only until this saturday then you can come back.**

***all leave and enter Yugioh GX characters.**

**Judai: So, another mermaid fanfic huh?**

**Nexus: yep...**

**Judai: So, who's gonna be the merpeople then?**

**Nexus: That I can't tell you at all only that the characters getting involved the most are Judai, Asuka, Johan, Ryo, Shou, Leo, Cherise, Jun and Jounochi! Everyone else is still involved but doesn't hold a bigger vital part of the story as these guys do.**

**Also, this story will be Chazz/ Jun bashing as well as bashing my OC Cherise, sorry Chazz/ Jun lovers!**

**Jun and Cherise: NEXUS!**

**Nexus: I'll see you all for the first real chapter today if I'm not killed by then!**


	2. Chapter 1: That not so normal summer day

**Nexus: As promised! The real chapter 1 for you all, kinda took me a while to decide where to stop and how much to write but you lot know I never do too much to begin with. When a stories kicking up some good shit, chapters get longer. The reason it's rated M (not that younger people care) is for A) Swearing, B) Violence and blood and C) I'm adding my first ever Lemon Scene into a fic, it is Yaoi after all.**

**Judai: Let's get this fic under-way already, I wanna find out what sort of person I'm portrayed as this time!**

**Asuka: Same here**

**Johan : Me too**

**Nexus: All right already, jeez, it's starting OK, but before that, disclaimer and claimer info. And to make up for being bad guys in my fic, Jun and Cherise will be doing them, Jun on disclaimer and Cherise on claimer.**

**Jun and Cherise: WHAT! T_T fine...**

**Jun: Nexus doesn't own any Yugioh/ Yugioh GX characters or the film Aquamarine**

**Cherise: She does own however me, Leo, Judai's made up parents and her ideas for this fanfic**

**Nexus: So please enjoy**

* * *

Chapter 1: That normal or not so normal summers day

Domino City: A thriving city and at the current time, it was summer. A time when everyone was off of work or school, soaking up as much of the sun as they could during the hours of the days. Some came for holidays, other for sight-seeing of the beautiful city.

Duel Academy: An Academy that teaches teenagers how to better themselves at card games or gives them the opportunity to show just how good they are. Many students from the Academy usually leave the Island by a boat for the summer and head out to Domino City. Many of them have houses over there and live there until it's time to go back 2-3 months later.

Domino Beach: The hotspot to be during the summer! You had to go there at least once to enjoy the cooling waters it had to offer. Many people just jumping into the waves throwing away all the hardships and cares in the world.

Our story zooms in on Domino Beach, to about the only two teens there who weren't out in the water, sitting under the shade of an umbrella.

"Ooh Johan, look who's just showed up?" One of the teens squealed, pointing to a figure in the distance.

The other teen zipped his head around looking to where the other had pointed. "It's him." A blush grew on the teens face.

"It's about time he showed up, he's so fit right?" the first teen asked, turning her head around to the second teen. "Right?"

"... Hang on, why are you even asking me?"

"Oh come on Johan, everyone knows that you love him just as much as I do."

"Yeah, very funny Asuka."

And so here we go, Johan and Asuka.

Two friends who had met by coincidence.

Johan was a male and 17 years of age. The first thing that would catch your attention to him would be his beautiful seductive viridian eyes and wild spiky teal hair. Sitting where he was now, he was wearing just a pair of blue swimming shorts. And man did he have a nice build! A well-built handsome young man who had a nice life. He was an Obelisk Blue student in Duel Academy and was just about to start his last year there, but came to Domino for the summer to keep up with Asuka.

And speaking of Asuka, she was a girl also of the age of 17, with mid length slightly dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and a self-confident over-the-top personality. She's a little crazy if you asked me. She was also and Obelisk Blue student, also in her last year now. She was wearing just a simple electric blue bikini, enjoying sitting under the umbrella, watching the rays of sun slowly sinking into the distance.

They'd met each other a couple of weeks ago during their last duels for their second year in Duel Academy and became good friends. Once Asuka found out that Johan also had a home in Domino, they decided to spend their last summer of freedom together.

And let me clarify this for you, they are not going out. Asuka may be straight but Johan was gay. He'd previously been teased in the Academy for it and Asuka was the first person who truly accepted him for what he actually was and she wasn't happy that he had not much self-confidence. This summer was also a chance for Asuka to boost his confidence levels for him, to help him for his last year.

Another weird thing about their friendship was that they were both in love with same man and yet perfectly okay with it. A very handsome charming teen going by the name of Marufuji Ryo. He had just finished his last year of Duel Academy as an Obelisk Blue student and was now going on to study in a special sector of Duel Academy, unknown to all who hadn't finished their 3 years or in some cases, more. During his summer, he had a house towards the centre of Domino City where he lived. He had very dark blue hair and those sexy dark eyes of him, that enough could make men and women swoon. Let alone the fact that he had a wonderful build and was very well toned. He was currently wearing a pair of white swim shorts and a lifeguard t-shirt. Yep, he's a lifeguard in his spare time at Domino Beach.

Even though they both didn't care that they both loved him, it was clear to them which one of the two got more attention and just a bit of love from him now and then.

Johan looked away and let out a sigh. "Asuka, I really want you to marry him soon."

"Oh really, and why would that be?" Asuka asked.

"Well, it's just, that way you wouldn't have to move out from here, you could stay," Johan replied with a hint of sadness.

"Don't worry Johan. I wouldn't dare sacrifice my life and go with my brother to Australia and you of all people know that Domino City and Duel Academy will always be my homes."

"I know that, but this time it's serious. Your brother Fubuki has a job opportunity waiting for him over there and you know he really wants it."

"Johan! For the last time I'm not going to transport my ass over to Australia just because Fubuki has a dream job over there, he can go by himself."

"Oh, and you're only bringing up the fact that you now don't want to go with him. You began this last week and that was after..." Johan began to say before getting cut short by Asuka.

"I really don't want to talk bout this now!"

Johan just looked away from her in disappointment.

If you need a story, Fubuki's is Asuka's 25-year-old brother. His dream job was always to be a Marine Biologist far away from Japan. A company who worked on the Gold Coast of Australia had seen his work and had offered him the chance to come and work with them, of course, this meant moving out too. Fubuki had been begging Asuka for quite some time now to come with him; he thought she would love the chance. Every time he tried to bring up this conversation, she completely ignored him. There was no point in trying to make conversation in something that you didn't want to really talk about as Asuka would say to him.

Snapping back to reality, Johan looked out over the Sea. The sun setting down making a sparkling breath taking reflection on the water, glowing between red, orange and yellow.

"Well, we should probably being heading back, yeah?" Asuka asked as she stood up and began to gather all of her things together.

"We should," Johan replied doing the same thing.

He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Come on. I'm sleeping at your's tonight so please cheer the fudge up!"

Johan cracked a smile at the news. Asuka was happy because Johan has opened up to her, hoping she would see something in him. From what she knew about him, his gender love had left him friendless. He also had no parents because both had died in a mysterious boat crash. The only thing the bot crash went on, was that a nearby blonde haired man in his mid thirties had seen two people near the site in the water. One was a young man with seriously spiky fanned black hair and the other a young girl with long cream hair, ties back into a high bun. Both had disappeared after the crash but the man never saw them go to shore.

She also knew that his parents were quite rich in the fishing industry, much to Johan's disapproval at the time. Being quite rich, when they died, they left Johan the private beach front house in his possession, all debts paid, all he had to do was pay the bills with the money left for that.

The only other thing about Johan she knew was that he was very afraid of water, after the crash, he couldn't bear to face water again. Asuka didn't mind staying on the sand though when they went to visit the beach,

Johan gave her something others couldn't. Happiness. She thought for sometime she might be falling for him but she knew it was hopeless. A female being friends with a gay person is friend zone forever.

Johan and Asuka packed their stuff and began walking back to the house, quickly stopping to say goodbye to Ryo, giggling and talking about him all the way back.

* * *

Ryo decided that he would stay at the beach until everyone had left.

Whilst he was getting ready to pack up his stuff, he saw a head emerge from the water. A very familiar face, for him at least.

"What are you doing here Manjoume?" Ryo said sternly.

"Does it matter what I'm doing here?" he asked back.

Manjoume Jun. The mysterious kid of Domino Beach. He too was an Obelisk Blue student. However, during the summer at Domino Beach, he was never seen on land, only ever in the water. No-one ever once saw him on shore during these months and no-one knew where he lived either. He had fanned spiky black hair, a half decent build and was actually rather cute.

"You know I don't like you, you caused Johan's parents deaths those few years ago and you'd think I' forget about that!"

"You know I did what I had to do, they hurt me and Cherise and for that, they paid the price." Tears began forming in Jun's eyes. "You know all too well what happened, they captured us!"

"Manjoume, I have zero clue about what happened, also what do you mean captured?"

"What does it matter now anyway, besides, there's a better catch coming soon, someone much more important than that kid's parents."

Another head appeared from the water, putting it's hand on Jun's shoulder.

"Cherise?"

Cherise was Jun's supposed boyfriend. She was actually a Ra Yellow student at Duel Academy and she too was never seen on land during the summer. She had sea green eyes and light cream coloured hair which was normally either tied back into a massive high bun or left down as a massive soft wavy ponytail. Rather skinny and also quite cute. The two of them made a nice pair.

"Jun, just leave him it's not worth getting into a fight over. What happened happened and there's nothing we can do about it," she told him in a soft calming voice.

"But he-" Jun started to say.

"-I don't care what you think, I'm not getting involved this time, just leave it," she said before shooting under the water.

"Well?" Ryo said proudly seeing Manjoume being put in his place.

"You know it's not over, that person most important to you will die," Manjoume said before shooting under the waves as well.

'Once again, another hint on the death of the person most important to me, I don't have someone who's really important to me right now. Well there is... NO, he doesn't exist, he never did, you were hallucinating Ryo. Also, a better catch? Whoever this person may be, I'm not going to lose them, I won't let them die by Manjoume's hands.' Ryo thought to himself as he walked away back to his home.

* * *

"You know Asuka, if you keep on sleeping round mine like this... people might just begin to think that something bizzare is happening between us," Johan nervously said as he brushed his teeth in the bathroom whilst Asuka took a quick shower, there's a curtain!

"Oh come on, you should know that I don't care what people think of me and you. Though I'm starting to think that you want something bizzare to happen to us, something fun," she teased.

Johan blushed at her words, not saying any more and walking back into his room.

Settling down on his side of the bed, opening up the tv from it's hiding place at the end of the bed, turning over to the late night news.

News went by about football stars, killings and all the regular stuff, waiting for the weather.

"Beware tonight everyone because a storms coming ove-" the TV presenter announced, being but short by Asuka who had turned it off without Johan noticing.

"Come on Johan, TV off, time for sleep," Asuka said as she settled down on her side looking up at the ceiling, Johan doing the same.

"There was just about to be some news about a storm coming but now we'll never know," Johan sighed.

"Oh it'll be fine, nothing ever happens here storm wise, you know that."

"Yeah guess you're right..."

"You know Johan…" she began to say, worming her way closer to him and holding his hand tightly, "I wish that I could just stay here forever with you. I mean, so far, you're my best friend. I don't want to go with my brother to Australia."

"Asuka… you know I won't let that happen. I'll think of something to stop you from moving, don't you worry. We can stay together."

"I wish so"

"Okay, let's just go to sleep. I'm starting to get really tired now…" Johan began to say until a yawn took over him.

"Haha, okay, let's." She laughed at his yawn.

Little did both of them know that what they wished for can be real. To make a wish, and to make it real, certain conditions are needed and drifting off into sleep, heavy rain pouring down and strong wind devouring every block in its darkness, the sea granted those conditions and attacked the beach and some houses. A flash of red appearing amongst the darkness and then disappearing back under the waves seconds later.

* * *

**Nexus: And I've finally done it. I would have had it up on the day I posted chapter 1 but my flipping laptop stopped on me and lost all my work on this chapter so it's taken me this long to finally get it up.**

**Manjoume: Also, we have a message for Higuchimon. You really didn't have to flame Nexus right at the start of her story. You had no clue what she was going to do with the story and also, I'm hardly being bashed in this story at all. I'm just playing a bad character, I'm supposed to be hated slightly. You'll see more as the story goes on. **

**We would also like it if no-one else dare tries to flame this story, constructive criticism is more than welcome but no saying bad stuff about it. If you don't like the story then please fuck off, we don't like hearing your moaning and it's our fic, not yours!**

**Nexus: Well said Jun, thank you.**

**Manjoume: No problem, anyone gives you trouble and I'll kill them.**

**Nexus: I know you're the villain but you don't have to go that far man.**

**Judai: We'll see you all for chapter 2, the next chapter should be a bit longer than this one, sorry if it seemed a little short to you.**


	3. Chapter 2: The storm and the merman

**Everyone: It's chapter 2!**

**Nexus: I put it in early for you all, I was gonna make you wait a week or so but I'm giving it you extra early for no reason. If you hadn't of noticed, these chapters are taking 1 day at a time. So today is the storm in the morning and the discovery of it and something else at night. Manjoume, Cherise!**

**Manjoume: You should know by now what she does and doesn't own**

**Cherise: He has a point...**

**Nexus: T_T fine, let off once...**

***Manjoume and Cherise Hi-Five.**

**Manjoume: Speaking of me, sometimes in this fic I am called Jun, sometimes I'm called Manjoume. Those closer to me call me Jun, those not call me Manjoume. Nexus can call me whichever. **

**Nexus: And with that note sorted, chapter 2 awaits us.**

**Judai: Wait, one more message to everyone?**

**Nexus: Is it about the reviewer called 'Higuchimon?'**

**Judai: Why, yes it is!**

**Nexus: Feel free**

**Judai: Dear Higuchimon, we've given you enough warning in the PM's we've sent you in reply to both of your harsh reviews. If you're going to review this one, then give something constructive, not just the 'this story is crap but I'll say it in a way that makes me sound oh so clever and full of myself and just make myself seem like a total dick and an unsociable high class fanfic nazi who won't stand for anything but high grade perfection like a published book to make everyone else seem weak and inferior to me.' We've read your page and how much you love GX but for fuck sake go ruin someone's elses fanfic and life because Nexus told you she wasn't sure whether she wanted to carry on writing this or not because of just how much you discouraged her. You even got the Liam Neeson treatment so don't think we're not serious about how much we hate you. In fact, don't even bother reviewing, if you're gonna say it's bad, PM Nexus and don't announce your childishness to the rest of and make a fool out of yourself! If you do PM us though, we have the full right to announce it in the Authoresses corner as it's important to the story!**

**Nexus: Wow, even better than what I could say in the PM earlier... thank you**

**Judai: You're welcome, this Higuchimon girl isn't getting away with discouraging you, right guys?**

**Everyone in corner: Yeah!**

**Manjoume: We're behind you all the way, plus this Higuchimon girl takes anime way too seriously, I mean it go check her page! Not to be mean here but she is crazy!**

**Nexus: Okay, lets get on with chapter 2, pretty sure these guys don't wanna hear me whine about this Higuchimon Bitch!**

* * *

Chapter 2: The storm and the merman

Morning came.

The sunlight crept up into the sky, filling Johan's room with bright warm light waking up a well-rested Asuka.

She let out a yawn and looked over to Johan.

'Aww, I can't wake up such a cute sleeping face,' she though. Leaving him to his contented sleep, she walked over to the window to look out over his pool at the morning sun rising over the ocean.

'Such a pretty site,' she though. But that was until her eyes corrected themselves and looked down at Johan's pool. 'The news last night, we should have watched it!'

"Johan, Johan," she shouted as she rocked his shoulders trying to wake him up.

"Oh Asuka, mornin'," Johan replied sleepily.

"There will be time for good morning later, you need to look at your pool," she replied to him.

"What's wrong with it?" He asked as his brain tried to process what was going on.

It hit him.

"The storm," he said quietly as he walked out towards the window, now looking down at his once beautiful pool.

His well-kept clear cerulean blue pool was now tinted a dark green colour, not clear, mucky. The trees that usually lay around the edges of the pool were broken, tattered, layed down and some had even ended up in the pool. There was also seaweed, a couple of crabs and some random rubbish lying around as well. The place was a disaster site.

"The TV!" Johan shouted rushing to find the remote and turned it on to see the news.

"And the big news of today is that storm that came in last night. For those that missed the news earlier, a storm hit Domino Cities precious Domino Beach last night leaving it in quite a state, the beach now closed for a couple of days whilst the locals are volunteering to clear it. Not just the Beach, but the Beach Front Houses were hit as well. Our local reporter informed us that none of them have taken massive damage, but the worst off might just be the house belonging to Johan Andersen which has a pool out front with a special roof cover for when it's too cold for the beach. In the world of sport-"

"I'm sorry I turned the TV off last night, if we hadn't of then we could have put the cover up and protected it from the storm." Asuka appolagised. "But why do you keep the pool anyway?"

"I keep it because you can use it, that and I could never pave it over. My parents built it there for me when I was young and I'm not getting rid of it even if I don't ever use it."

"We need to look it over anyway, see how much truly needs fixing."

"Yeah," Johan replied.

They just went down in what they were wearing last night. Asuka was wearing a white oversized t-shirt and a pair of blue shorts and now had a pair of white fluffy slippers on as well. Johan quickly grabbed his dark blue dressing gown and a pair of blue slippers, previously having on just a pair of white sleep shorts.

* * *

Unlocking the back door, they looked out to see a crowd of people standing behind the front gate of the pool area that lead straight to the beach. Johan walked up to it and unlocked it asking in a scared manor, "what are you all doing here?"

"We're here to help you out man! Your parents were good friends of ours, they helped us out many times but we never got the chance to repay them. Now we are, but to you," a blonde haired man in his mid thirties told him.

"Jounochi," Johan said nearly tearing up. "Thank you, but you've already repayed my parents. Don't forget, when they died, you were the only one who saw the two who possibly caused it. Even though they've not been found yet, without that little information, we'd have nothing to go on."

"I'm still gonna help you, we'll help you rather, right guys!" Jounochi shouted turning around and looking at everyone else.

"Yeah!" they all shouted back in return. Johan turned to Asuka who gave him a nod and let everyone in.

During the rush of everyone coming inside, one face made Johan smile. As Ryo walked in he gave Johan a short wink and a smile making him blush before he turned back and got to work.

Work was getting well underway and the pool was getting cleared of all the debris that layed around the edge.

Johan was helping to pile stuff into black bags, completely focused on the work at hand, that was until something in the water of the pool caught his attention.

'What the... what is that... blue orbs?' Johan though as he walked closer to the edge. There was something alive down there, he just...

"Johan!"

In the blink of an eye, the tile which Johan was stood on collapsed underneath him and the boy found himself tumbling into the cold water.

Asuka called for help when the splash was heard. She knew Johan had a massive fear of water and how lethal it can be to him.

"Johan!" Ryo shouted and without a second though, jumped into the water to save him.

Johan just sat there floating at the bottom of the pool, confused and very scared. Slowly he blinked his eyes open to the salt water, the salt stinging rather badly. What he could see though, was a little worse. He could make out a big mob of something brown and those two blue orbs he saw before he fell in and... a red tail? He had no idea what to do, he was too scared to try and swim to the surface of the pool. With his last breath of air running out, he just let it go, his body sinking towards the bottom of the pool, passing out.

Lucky for him though, Ryo had found him just as he'd passed out. But that wasn't the only thing he'd found.

'What the...' he thought to himself as the two blue orbs he could see turned into red and green orbs, those orbs then disappearing a few seconds later along with a flash of red. Ryo had slightly more important matters to focus on as he scooped up Johan into his arms and carried him up back to the surface of the pool.

Breaking the surface of the pool, Asuka rushed over to help Ryo get Johan out of the pool.

"Everyone give him some space!" Asuka shouted due to the fact that everyone began crowding the passed out teen.

"Johan," Ryo said silently, worried about the teen.

"Everyone, thank you for coming to over to help but with Johan like this... do you mind if you could come back tomorrow morning to help?" Asuka asked.

"That's fine, we'll come back tomorrow, tell Johan we were worried about him for me would ya?" Jounochi asked back.

"Yeah."

Ryo carried Johan inside and layed him down on the couch whilst Asuka lead everyone else out of the gate. Ryo came outside too, saying that he had to be somewhere and asked Asuka to tell Johan that he would see how he was tomorrow morning.

"See you tomorrow then Ryo," Asuka shouted as Ryo walked away. She blushed slightly before letting out a big squee. Ryo cared so much more for Johan recently and this was another huge help on the Road to RyoXJohan.

She walked back inside to check how Johan was. She found him sitting up on the couch panting with a scared manor on his face.

"Johan?" Asuka asked worried.

Johan's head gave a sharp turn followed by a massive hug and a little stream of tears.

"Shhhh, Johan, it''s all okay, you're alive," Asuka said trying to calm him down.

"It's not the fact that I nearly just died, it was what I saw down there..." his voice trailing at the end.

"What did you see?"

"Something brown, 2 blue orbs, they looked like eyes and... a red tail, like a fish."

"Johan, I have 2 points to say to you. 1) Something brown, kelp. Blue orbs, round blue sea glass, little shiny creatures. Red fish tail, a red fish. And 2) You were in salt water, your eyes would have been blurred making it harder to see."

"Asuka, I know what I saw!" Johan shouted annoyed.

"Okay! How about we go out to the pool tonight and find out you really did see what you saw?"

"Fine, but I'm telling your, it's alive and it's a predato-" Johan began to say.

Asuka cut him off, "We'll find out tonight." She said sternly.

* * *

**-Night time-**

Asuka had called her brother to tell him that she'd be staying another night a Johan's. Fubuki didn't really mind this. After all, he's been happy that she'd made a friend in Johan and he made her smile from ear to ear whenever she was around him. It was all just too bad that in just under 2 weeks, they would be moving away from Domino and heading to the sunny shores of Australia's Gold Coast.

Asuka had never surrendered to her brother's desires. Every time she was gone, he would begin re-packing all the stuff that she unpacked that he previously packed before. In short, Fubuki packs, Asuka unpacks. The cute brown haired brother didn't know what it was going to take to convince his sister properly.

But back to reality.

"You all ready to go?"

"Yeah, about that, wouldn't it be better if we just let someone professional check it out? I mean, what if it's something really dangerous?"

"You are hopeless," Asuka sighed, "Johan, it will all be fine. There's probably nothing down there anyway and I won't let you fall back in, okay?"

"O-okay?" Johan had fallen into Asuka's manipulation trap.

Heading downstairs, Johan grabbed his keys to unlock the back door. Heading outside, the pool had changed a little. The local help had set up yellow tape to stop anyone getting into the pool or anything getting out of it. Very carefully sneaking under the yellow wire, Johan held a flash light over the pool whilst Asuka held his hand.

"So no what?" Johan asked.

"Simple, in these times we use bait! And guess what I got?"

"What?"

"Well, there's some shrimp, a can of sardines, some mackerel andddddddddd some Gummy Bears."

"Johan's mouth dropped open. "Are you nuts!? Why Gummy Bears? It's a freaking predator down there, is it really going to fall for Gummy Bears?"

"The Gummy Bears were snacks for us to eat, but now that you mention it, I guess it can't hurt to use it as bait too."

Johan mentally slapped himself. Next time, he would just keep his mouth shut.

"Right, as if some kind of predator is really going to like Gummy Bears." Johan grumbles.

"Oh come one, you'll never know if don't try." And with that said, she threw a couple into the pool.

A couple of minutes had passed and nothing.

"You know what? This is stupid... there's nothing down there, you were right, I was just imagining things." Johan said plainly.

"You can't say that now we're down here. We're staying and we're going to find out if you really were imagining things."

Johan and Asuka began arguing until a voice spoke up, "Hey guys, this stuff is awesome, know where I can get any more?"

"Oh shut up! We are in the middle of an important investiga-" Asuka sternly said and looked to Johan as if she was going to say something but then realised that Johan wasn't actually speaking. Someone else was within their presence.

"Johan, if that wasn't you and it wasn't me, then who's voice is it?"

"The voice..." Johan began to say before until he looked down in the pool mouth open unable to say anything.

Asuka noticed this and turned around looking in Johan's line of sight.

In the pool was a human head looking at them with a hand holding a lemon yellow Gummy Bear.

"Oh my Ra. Johan, is this what you saw earlier?"

Sure enough, the person fitted most of the description. A mob of brown, a mob of brown hair. 2 Blue orbs, 2 Blue eyes. But no red tail, must have just been a fish.

"You're meaning to tell me that he's been in the pool the entire time?" Asuka asked.

"I don't know, he might have just fallen in earlier or something, but I've never seen him before, he might be new in the area though."

Hearing this the figure said, "yes, new person, new to here, sorry for... falling in earlier."

"How come you never go out then, did you pass out and then wake up in the pool?" Asuka asked intrigued by the boy. Yes, the figure is a boy.

"Um well..." the figure began to say, unable to think of anything to say back, he was just about to say something until he saw a hand.

Asuka's hand. "Come on, take my hand."

The boy in the pool was caught off guard for a moment before saying, "um, it's okay, I like it here anyway."

"Don't be such an idiot and take it."

"Listen, I really like it here, um, miss."

"The names Asuka! Listen buddy, we'll do this either the easy way or the hard way, now take my hand and get out of here before we call the police for trespassing " Asuka shouted angrily.

"Police?" the boy asked.

"Asuka, look at him, he's really confused, he probably doesn't even remember how he ended up in here."

"That doesn't matter, he doesn't want to leave."

The figure cut there argument short again.

"Okay, it's not that I don't want to leave this pool, it's the fact that I can't."

"Oh, and why's that?" Asuka asked nearly shouting.

"Well because-"

"-Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah?"

The head in the pool shook his head, raising his body up. Now they could fully see the figure. He was a boy around the age of 17 or 18 by the looks of it. Maybe a little older than they were. He had a head of dark brown hair with some lighter brown in a strange patch around the top of his hair. To them, it kinda looked like the hair of a Kuriboh. Following down he had blue eyes and a well toned chest. It didn't have much muscle but then it didn't look femininely thin either.

"Well, let me see, why can't I leave this pool? Oh yeah that's right, there's one tiny little thing that stops me from leaving here, it's because of, oh yeah... BECAUSE OF THIS!" The boy raised something up out of the water in front of him to show the two teens before diving back down below the water, a flash of red following him.

Both teens stood there frozen to the spot.

'A red tail?!' Johan thought as scared as hell.

Before either of them could say anything to him, the boy shot out of the water and into the air. His eyes had begun to change colour, they could see them changing from blue into red as they were turning deep purple. The lower half of his body was the most fascinating part about him. He didn't have human legs, but instead, he had a long, shiny, scaly, red fish tail, ending at the end with slightly lighter red fins. He also had 2 fins this colour coming from his hips.

This boy, was a merman.

He splashed back down into the pool, resurfacing a few seconds later staring at the two teens who were now holding each other close.

"Um, guys?" the merman said cautiously.

Both of them still stood frozen holding each other.

"Is this how human usually welcome someo-" he began before he was cut short.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Both of them screamed really scared.

"Oh dear," the merman sighed covering his ears so that they wouldn't burts under the screaming of the two teens. "Also you might wanna stop screaming, you'll draw attention to us if you carry on like this!"

"WHAT? WHO WHAT- YOU! Nahhhhh!" The terrified pair still continued their scream fest.

"Okay, would the two of you please stop screaming. We really don't need the attention drawn over here do. God, it's like you've seen a ghost or a murder."

"It's WORSE than that. You... You're... You're a,-" Asuka began to say, the last word always escaping on the edge of her tongue.

"Yeah thanks, I know what I am, you two never seen a merman before?" By now, the boys eyes that were once blue had turned a glowing red colour. After a few seconds, they reverted to a normal brown colour.

Asuka blinked several times noticing the change. "Your eyes, they changed again?"

"That," the merman asked surprised, "it's natural, our eyes tell us our emotions to other. Facial expressions are not used much by us so we have our eyes to tell for us."

Asuka's shock had eventually worn off as she came over to the edge of the pool, looking down at where the merman was located and asked, "listen, please don't eat us!" she pleaded.

The merman gave a confused look. "Look, I think you're mistaken here, Asuka was it? We're not like human legend takes us to be, we don't eat humans. We just live contently in the ocean and leave you human alone. Just because you eat fish, doesn't mean it's the same the opposite way around. Well, except for he bigger predators like sharks and you can see, I'm not a shark or a predator. Also why would I eat/ kill you? I'm half human."

Johan was still frozen to the core even after Asuka had let him go. The blonde teen turned around to her teal haired friend.

"Okay Johan, we have a... Merman, over here, so snap out of it and come say hi, he won't hurt us." Somehow, all trace of fear Asuka had was lost once the merman explained how he wouldn't eat them and that he meant no harm.

"Hey, I have a question, can I… touch your, t-tail?"

The brown haired boy looked up at the teen with a smile on his face. "Yeah! But only on the condition that I can touch your feet, I'm about as curious of humans as you are of me."

Asuka grinned widely and jumped into the moment, shaking the boys hand widely, and "You got a deal!"

The boy in the water raised the end of his tail up for Asuka to see. She was still utterly mesmerised by the site of the glistening red scales on his tail and the strong fins that followed it. She reached her hand down to it, expecting it to have the same consistency of a normal fish, which in any case, was very slimy and slightly tacky. She was very wrong to discover even with the scales, the tail was still quite smooth, via the parts where the scales overlapped one another. "Wow, it's more the consistency of a dolphin than a fish!"

"Yeah, we're not truly like fish. We're more half human half dolphin but have tails that look more like a fish."

"Okay then." Asuka replied, slipping her white slippers off so the merman could see her feet. She could see the boy's face lighting up with excitement when she removed the strange article from her feet to reveal the flesh underneath. He took a hold of her foot being careful with it, examining every part of it, from her toes and their joints, to the balls of her feet and nearing her ankles. Going back to her toes, he found the underneath of them and starting to investigate the skin, tickling the poor girl in the process.

"Huh, so this is how you humans move about?"

"Yes, it is, now, hahahhaha, let go of it!"

The boy clocked on that she was getting uncomfortable like this so he let go like she commanded. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Asuka replied, slipping her slippers back onto her feet. "You know, you're kind of cute… um?" She just realised that they didn't actually know the creature's name.

"Judai, my name is Yuki Judai." The boy gave a wide grin.

"Judai, well, you know my name, Tenjouin Asuka."

"And uh, who's the scared one in the back who refuses to move and say hi?" Judai asked.

"Ah, that's Johan Anderson."

"Hey, I am not scared! It's just, I mean, it's not like you see a merman or mermaid every day, let alone have a conversation with one."

"Well, Johan, you're friend Asuka seems perfectly fine."

"Yeah, well in case you didn't notice, I'm not an over-the-top confident person like Asuka!" Johan raised his voice slightly in anger.

Asuka walked over to where Johan was still standing and grabbed his hands. "Come on Johan, just chill, he won't hurt you." She said to him in a calm soothing voice.

The teen just let out a sigh and let Asuka lead him over to where Judai was, currently resting against the shallows of the pool, letting his tail drift up and down out of the water to cool off. "So… Judai… what brings you out her to our humble pool? I mean, you have a whole ocean out there, right?" Asuka asked him.

"Well, Asuka, I guess I came here for two reasons, both the same. To prove that love exists to my father in a bet I made with him and for the reason that I love someone."

"Ooooh… but, shouldn't the girl you're looking for be out in the ocean?"

"Oh yeah, as cheesy as this is going to sound, the girl is not in the ocean and also, it's not a girl. The person I'm in love with is a human and this human is a 'he'."

"Oh, this is just priceless! Johan, we've got a gay merman!"

"Asuka, stop being so childish," Johan grunted.

"And you two are going to help me find him!"

Johan simply grunted again, "listen, what on earth makes you even think that we will agree to help you?"

"One simple little fact. Many humans don't know this, including you two I see, but when you help a merman or a mermaid, you get a free wish. One wish for each person who helps said mer-person. Also, if you help 2, that's 2 wishes per human and so on, so forth, you get the idea."

"REALLY?!" Asuka and Johan both asked excited as hell.

"Yeah." Judai had a victory smile on his face. "But you'll only get it when you help me out and when you succeed. In this case, it's once you prove to me that maybe love does exist and that you get 'said' human to fall in love with me! So, will you help me?"

"Are you kidding, of course we'll help you, right Johan?" Asuka looked over to him, puppy eyes appearing on her face.

Johan actually looked excited for once… even if it was only a little, "yeah-"

"HEY!" A shout came out from no-where which shocked all 3 of the teens as they saw a flash light come up from around the corner.

"What, who is that!" Judai shouted.

"Oh no, it's Jounochi!" Asuka said.

"Jounochi?" Judai asked.

"He's the guy who's supposed to be cleaning the pool and we gave him a key to the yard. You have to hide. Listen Judai, we'll come and find you again in the morning, we promise, just stay hidden and don't let anyone find you." Asuka shouted to him, running away with Johan in tow.

"Hang on- but I know a Jounochi..." Judai shouted.

"We'll talk in the morning, we'll come back for you, we promise!" Johan shouted not actually hearing what Judai said.

Judai still followed orders and hid below the pool as not one, but two people came around the corner.

The first person was Jounochi, but he was with Marufuji Leo (A/N: Mine!), a young boy around the age of 15. He had jet black hair which was quite long in length, growing down to about half way down his back. He was wearing an old blue t-shirt and a simple pair of black shorts.

He'd asked Jounochi to take him out to the back of the pool when he'd heard some people talking them earlier. Jounochi suspected it was just Johan and Asuka he could hear until another voice joined in. Both of them were quite suspicious now so they both went over to see what was going on.

Unlocking the gate, they looked around, both of them holding flash lights. Jounochi shined his down in the water seeing a familiar sight. He had to get Leo to leave.

"Leo, why don't you go back now, no-one's here, I'll just tell Asuka and Johan we're sorry for this."

Leo looked around seeing nothing and obeyed Jounochi's words. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I'll tell them remember?"

"Yeah." And with that said, Leo headed back home. He was Ryo's brother but he didn't like in the city area, he lived with his grand parent which was only a couple of houses away from Johan's house on the beach.

One Leo had left and was pretty sure that he was alone again, he turned to the pool and said, "you can come out, Yuki Judai."

Judai obeyed and lifted his head from the water.

"Long time no see." Judai replied in a happy manor.

"What are you doing here, anyway? Did that storm wash you in?"

"Yeah, it did."

"Listen up, tomorrow, we gotta get all the water in the pool cleared out, so before morning comes, I'll come back for you and get you out of here."

"Thanks Jounochi, but then, Asuka and Johan will wonder where I've gone, what do we do about that?"

"I'll leave them a message," he said. "So, where did those two go then, the two that were banned from the kingdom?"

"Those two, no-one's seen them since that day..."

**-Flash back-**

_The day of the boat crash._

_The day Johan's parent's died._

_Jounochi was out there in his little fishing boat trying to find out what had been the cause of the crash, seeing 2 people disappear under the waves._

_"Who the hell were they?" Jounochi silently asked himself._

_"I know those two," a sad voice called from behind Jounochi._

_He quickly turned around to see Judai leaning on the back of the boat._

_"Who are you?"_

_"Gomen, my names Yuki Judai."_

_"Judai, I'm Jounochi Katsuya, so you know those two?"_

_"Yeah, they live in my kingdom as servants to me and my father. They were the best we've ever had until one slight incident. We'd seen them swimming towards the surface with weapons in hand and before we knew it, they'd taken down that boat. We're all sorry for the loss of whoever was on the boat." Judai said, not realising he wasn't doing very well to hide the truth._

_"Wait, swimming up to the surface, servants to a kingdom, a prince and a king, you're not human are you."_

_Judai let out a gasp not realising he'd let so much out._

_"No, I'm not, can I trust you?"_

_"Whatever you are, I trust you," Jounochi said trying to calm down the frightened boy._

_Judai looked around before lifting himself into Jounochi's little boat._

_"You, you're a merman," Jounochi said staring in shock at the beautiful tail._

_"Yeah, please don't tell anyone, humans aren't suppose to know about us, in fact, I shouldn't even be talking to you right now."_

_"It's okay, I won't tell anyone."_

_"Thanks, Jounochi."_

_"So, what's it like down there?"_

_..._

**- Flash back end-**_  
_

"Yeah, I remember that, you banned those two from the kingdom now?" Jounochi asked.

"Yep, they're now Rogue merpeople on the loose but they keep on visiting the surface every year except for 2 months so we're getting kind of worried about what they're up to."

"It's just ocurred to me, what are their names?"

"We never knew their real names. We just called them Jun and Cherise, Manjoume Jun and Kumori Cherise. They were left at the palace door steps as children along with few other merpeople so we took them in and raised them as servants from what my father told me."

"It's just a shame that justice can never been done for what they did, they killed Johan's parents on that boat but because they're merpeople, we can't do anything to them, even if they do come to shore, we'd have no proof of who they really are."

"That's true." Judai replied.

"I'll come back for you in the morning Judai. Keep well until then."

"Bye Jounochi.

And with that, Jounochi left and Judai re-settled below the waves.

Everyone falling to sleep.

* * *

**Nexus: My god, half of this wasn't even in the original script. I've just spent the last two hours writing randomly and then adding stuff in from the script. I'm mad. Just under 5000 words in this chapter once you minus away the authoresses corners.**

**Judai: Can we just quickly get back to Higuchimon briefly.**

**Nexus: Quickly.**

**Judai: We don't particularly want you to review this chapter but it's all your own choice. We are not going to bother pursuing you anymore and we hope you will say nothing more. If you don't like this story then you can just leave. After what Nexus has just written, she's proud of herself and doesn't care what you think of her story! So you can just FUCK OFF!**

**Nexus: Well said, chapter 3 is going to be quite big too and beware my stories because there will be quite a few flash back, such a nicer way to explain the story in my opinion.**

**Everyone: We'll see you all for chapter 3.**

**Nexus: And in other new, Mermaid Melody the hidden series part 1 is paused until I'm satisfied with up to chapter 4. Once I've moved house, beginning on November, then I'll re-focus on it!**


	4. Chapter 3: Transformation and Discovery

**Nexus: As promised on my homepage, this was to be the next uploaded chapter. Thank you to the three followers on this story, ****_IceRush, Latina shewolf and flamingcookies21. _****Thank you to all 3 of you. I would say thanks to ****_Higuchimon_**** for the two reviews but since they weren't nice or constructive criticism, I'm just going to ignore her and those reviews. **

**Also, GUYS, you see that box when you get to the end of a chapter? Type something in it, even if you're a guest. Even a little review makes me work faster to update not according to my listings. Constructive criticism is most welcome, nice comments are even better. Flaming I will not stand for!**

**But um anyway, please enjoy chapter 3. It's a new day in Domino City and we have no fucking clue what's going to happen to Judai.**

**Jun: Also, Nexus doesn't GX or any other involved Yugioh characters from across the franchise and doesn't own Aquamarine which this is partly based off of.**

**Cherise: She does however own her ideas and all her OC's like me. Sorry for there being so many of them.**

**Everyone: Chapter 3 awaits us!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Transformation and discovery.

Johan and Asuka both woke up the next morning with distinct memories of last night. Meeting Judai... Judai?

"Judai!" Both the teens shouted, realising they said they would have come back for him.

Rushing over to the window, they looked down to a site they did not want to see.

The pool had been emptied of nearly all the water thanks to those machines that take up all the water with the massive pipe, no idea what they're called. Upon seeing the empty pool, there was no sign of a certain someone, the merman called Judai who'd they'd found last night.

Both rushed down stairs out the back door to find all the workers from yesterday were back at work now. Ryo was there and now Leo was too. People were sweeping up pieces of debris that were never cleared up and mopping the sides of the pool. One man was working on replacing the tile that had given way under Johan yesterday causing 'that' accident.

Just as they where about to zoom up to the man in charge of the machine to start asking questions, one more person bust through the gate.

"Jounochi?" Asuka said, wondering why he was late here.

"You're kinda late," Johan added on.

Jounochi was panting like mad. After finally catching his breath, he asked the two, "where's Judai?" He voice a mixture of scare and anger.

The two teens looked around before quickly dragging him over into a short corner.

"You know Judai?" Asuka asked him, confused and scared.

Jounochi looked at the two to confirm something, "Yuki Judai, the..."

Johan finished the sentence off for Jounochi like he wanted them to, "merman."

"Good, so we're all on the same wave length as to who and what Judai is," Jounochi sighed.

"Wait, how do you know what/ who he is then?" Johan asked, wanting a story.

"The day of the boat crash, the one of your parents, Judai spoke to me about the two people who caused the crash. Two rogue merpeople who were originally from Judai's kingdom got kicked out for their actions. Turns out they both come to shore for the entire year, that is until the summer when they come back to the waves. We know their names but not their real ones. Even if they are here in the human world right now, we'll still have no idea who they really are and don't even have any proof of who they really are." Jonouchi told them, he told them pretty much everything he knew.

Both took in the information before realising something.

"How did you know he was here?" Asuka asked.

"Last night, Leo thought something was up over here and asked me to come with since I have a key to the gate. I managed to get Leo to leave before talking to Judai and catching up with him. I said I'd come back for him early in the morning, time before everyone else came to work here. He said you two would get worried so I decided I'd leave you a note. Must have forgotten at the time though. Sadly, I got caught this morning and had to do more work for my morning job than I thought so that's why I was so late here to help out. Question is where is he?"

"Jounochi, we'll find him. Focus on your work, you're needed else where we aren't." Johan suggested.

"I'll leave you two to find him then," Jounochi said walking back to work around the pool.

Johan and Asuka began their investigation of the area.

"You don't think someone found him in the pool this morning do you? Or maybe the machine caught him?"

Johan looked back. "Asuka, I don't think he would get sucked up by the machine, we would have heard screaming if that happened, pretty loud screaming too. Also, I don't think someone found him. Look at this…" he finished pointing over to something.

Asuka saw a path of water; some of it was quite large in area and then suddenly turned into human looking footprints, very un-even ones though. Those carried on all the way over to a little shed where Johan kept his drinks in a cooler and some loungers for him and Asuka. Just for whenever they didn't feel like the beach yet wanted to be outside enjoying the sun that Japan had to offer them. "Footprints…"

"Yeah… footprints, as to who though is a question," Johan trailed off.

Both of them followed the footprints to the door of the shed, staring curiously at it.

"You open the door," Asuka said staring at it intently.

"No, you open the door," Johan replied back fighting.

"No, you should open it detective," Asuka pronounced the last word very harshly

"Says the girl who's most curious about the mer… Judai's disappearance," and those were the only final words Johan needed to push the argument onto Asuka.

"Fine, I'll open it," she replied unhappily, only to find in trying to open the door, that it was locked. "Hmm, strange, it's locked. Whoever's in there doesn't want us to get them."

"Hand on, I'll get the key," Johan said quickly digging into his pocket to find his key ring.

His key ring was a special gift his parents left him. The keys on the ring were quite tricky to work out. Not all of them had key ends and when they did, they weren't average. All the keys were made specifically so that they couldn't be copied just by moulding the key holes, they were more than that.

Each key was special, holding a different opening technique and representation to it's linked purpose. For example, the key for the door to the pool was a bubble with waves running through the middle of it and a sun inside it to, representing the idea of it being outside. The bottoms of the keys were also designed, keeping the same key, the bottom turning part was shaped also like a wave with a small circle in the middle, partly representing the top of the key. You couldn't just turn the key though to open the door. One you turned it into the lock, keeping the key in place, you had to run a finger of the wave on the circle to activate the key lock.

Johan simply looked for a key in which the top was shaped like a blue box with a milk chocolate and cream striped sun lounger sitting out the the top of it. The bottom was like a bottle of coke, but it was twisted so you couldn't just mould the lock. Once the bottle was twisted around, you had to give they key one last push into the door so that the little screw on the bottom of the coke bottle, actually opened the door. (A/N: these are some keys I'm coming up with!)

Having found the key, he unlocked the door only to find that someone was pushing against it, making it hard for Asuka and Johan to open the door. Whoever was behind the door, had some strength on them.

"HEY, whoever's behind here, you'd better let go of the door and step aside, RIGHT NOW!" Asuka shouted franticly, unbeknownst to her that she'd drawn in a crowd of people. Asuka received no answer, only the sound of someone letting go the door handle they were holding , letting their body drop off the door and running around behind a sun lounger, hiding. Asuka slowly pushed the door open, anxious to find out who or what was holding the door shut. Both teens could hear a rustling behind the sun loungers.

"You don't think…" Asuka said trailing off.

Johan finished, "it's a possibility, he wouldn't be anywhere else, but human footprints are the odd thing that wouldn't make it him." God did they not know how wrong they could be. Both of the quickly grabbed both loungers and thrusted them to the ground, both shocked at the new sight that now stood, or rather, sat cowering on the floor before them.

It was a boy around the age 17 or 18 with fluffy brown and light brown Kuriboh hair, a pair of rich golden and sun yellow eyes adorned his face. He was then naked at the top half. He was a human, except for the small fact he was a naked one. But not just any naked human…

No, this naked human was none other than the boy they had met just last night, the merman who went by the name of Judai. The difference being now that Judai for some unknown reason, was human right now.

Johan and Asuka had every intention to scream right now but they somehow held themselves back, not wanting to draw any further attention. Since they knew where Judai was, they quickly headed outside to talk to Jounochi about what happened and needed some way of getting them all out for a while.

"I know, I'll call everyone out here for lunch down the beach shack, my treat," Jounochi came up with his plan and set it into action.

"Hey guys, lunch time, beach shack, all on me, my treat!" Jounochi shouted.

Much to the shock of himself, all the workers began cheering rushing out the back door to make their way down to the beach shack. They knew if Jounochi was paying, they would have the most expensive items on the menu.

"Jounochi, if you're paying, I want you to take some of the money from the kitchen." Johan said.

"Really?" Jounochi asked in shock.

"They'll get the most expensive things they can find down there and if you weren't here, we wouldn't be able to distract the workers like we are now. It's the least I can do."

"Thank you so much, I'll keep them down there as long as I can!" Jounochi shouted in happiness before belting into the kitchen and belting out again with some money in hand.

* * *

Back to the shack, Johan and Asuka got ready to unleash their full shock that they held back on Judai earlier.

"JUDAI, HOW- YOU- YOU WERE A- AND NOW YOU'RE A… HUH!?"Asuka and Johan shouted franticly trying to work out what was going on.

"Okay, I can explain how this happened, but I'm just as shocked as you guys are…" Judai explained. "This morning, around sunrise, I felt the sudden urge to draw myself out of the pool and onto the land. In doing so, once I was out, my tail started flashing and I turned into a human. I knew we could do so, I just never knew how to trigger the effect. I know all the tricks of a mer-person being a human and things that you mustn't do, should a change occur. Also, Jounochi never came for me but it sounds like you both know about our relation to each other from what I heard earlier. Thank you for getting them to leave as well."

"Huh," Asuka said sounding perfectly fine again. "Didn't actually think you could turn into a human…"

"And then how would that work out, how would he fall in love with the man he's found if he's constantly water bound? I don't think that would ever work out," Johan chirped back. He took of his gown and got Judai to stand up. He showed him how to put it on and tied it up for the man so that he was no longer naked, but instead, clothed and hidden, like a normal human would be. "We'll talk more on the matter of you becoming human later, but until then, come inside and let's get you properly clothed, you can't walk around in that all day."

They both managed to get Judai to stand up and found that he was actually walking reasonably well considering he'd just turned human.

"You're not too bad," Asuka stated.

"Considering I had to get out of the pool and find somewhere to hide, wasn't exactly easy but I think I've got the hand of it." Judai replied.

Leading Judai indoors, he gasped at the beauty of the place. "It's amazing!"

"We all know that, come on, we're getting you some clothes." Asuka responded happily.

They lead him upstairs to Johan's bedroom and sat Judai down on the bed before opening the wardrobe and scanned it for anything that Judai could wear.

Something clearly caught Asuka's eyes as her eyes sparkled.

"Hey, Johan, why don't you give him this to wear…" Asuka said pointing to an outfit in Johan's wardrobe.

"Yeah, it just might fit him, looking at it."

"Well, let's get it on him."

"And by 'let's' you mean you as in me, don't you?"

"My my, you catch on fast. Besides, I'm a girl, you're the boy in this."

With no other comeback of words to say, Johan picked out the outfit. It was an old set of clothes he used to wear and for some reason, he never got rid of them.

Asuka stepped out of his room whilst Johan gave Judai a lesson on human clothes and why you wear them. Judai understood the majority of it, the part about covering private parts didn't confuse him too much as mer-people only reveal when they want to. After about another half an hour, Judai had it completely down.

"Asuka, you can come in now," Johan shouted towards the door which Asuka had impatiently stood outside of.

"Finally," she replied with a sigh of relief. Walking inside she took a good look and Judai, and then glomped him.

"Oh my Ra, Judai, you look so cute in this. Johan did a good job on you."

"Asuka, could you maybe let me go, it's getting hard to *cough* breathe." Judai squeezed out.

"Oops, sorry." Asuka took one last good look at Judai before giving a Johan a big grin and a thumbs up for a well done. Judai was wearing a simple very dark blue vest top, a pair of black jeans and his old black converse with red and white laces (mixed colour laces, both laces red and white in colour, not one of each colour mentioned, I made that up.) It actually suited Judai rather well. Johan also had a red button shirt and red jacket that he could wear when he wanted to as well.

"That reminds me," Asuka started, "you said there were things as a human that merpeople shouldn't do right? I think it would be best if you tell us so we know how to help you."

"Okay," Judai began, sitting down on the bed as this was going to be some long explanation.

* * *

On the beach, Ryo was sitting down on the platform where the light house stood. He took something out of the pocket of his board shorts, a special necklace. It was the shape of a Duel Monsters card but when it was opened, it contained a very well drawn image of Ryo's face, but a much younger version of him 6 years ago.

"That boy..." Ryo began to say before a flash back hit him.

**- Flash back- **

**6 years ago, i****t was a dark warm summer's night outside and Ryo was sitting out by the lighthouse near the beach. It was one of his favourite spots to go and sit down near at night. The calming warm breeze rushing through his hair and the smell of the sea were among his favourite times. Looking out to sea though, he could see a body bobbing up and down in the waves. It was a male body, a boy who looked around his own age at the time with the fluffy hair of a Kuriboh. Late night swimmers were rare around there but he was never bothered when he saw one.**

**The thing that got Ryo interested were the bright green and blood red eyes the boy possessed. Not many people in the world have stranger eye colours as that.**

**The boy in the sea gave a smile and a wave to Ryo. Ryo couldn't see the boy's face well enough but at least he could see those eyes colours and a body shape. Ryo gave a short wave back as the boy heading under the ocean.**

**"What, what's he doing?" Ryo thought in confusion, his question answered seconds later as the boy gave a small jump into the air, revealing himself. The boy had, from what Ryo could see, a tail. "He's a merman!" Ryo thought as he stood up. Only problem was, in the process of standing up to see the boy again, he lost his footing and fell of the edge of the lighthouse platform into the choppy waters of the night.**

**Ryo was usually a good swimmer against the waves, but he was tired from a long hard day and getting back to surface right now would take more air than he had. He then remember that merman was around. "Heh, who knows, maybe he'll save me…" Ryo's though trailed off as he let out the last of his air, screaming 'save me'.**

**Judai, who was swimming away from the area back home, heard the strange cry of bubbles in the water and instantly turned back and swam at full speed, only to find that boy drowning. He knew he wasn't supposed to make contact with a human but when true loves colours take over, all of Judai's instincts were thrown out the window. He rushed over to the now drowning Ryo and dragged him back up the light house platform.**

**"Come on, WAKE UP!" Judai cried in attempt to make the boy wake up. **

**Ryo's eyes opened slightly seeing blurred yellow eyes now**

**"What the, could have swarn-" Ryo tried to say before a finger came over his mouth.**

**"Shush, don't talk, it'll only hurt to talk right now." Judai said hushing him.**

**"Who are you?" Ryo said gasping in amazement as he sat up to get a better look at his saviour.**

**"I can't tell you my name," Judai said sadly looking down at the floor.**

**"Why not?" Ryo asked back.**

**"It's a rule, I'm sorry I can't tell you!"**

**"Can I at least give you a nick name to remember you by?" He asked.**

**"Sure," Judai replied.**

**Ryo took a good luck at him before deciding on a nick name, "Jaden."**

**"Jaden, it's a nice nick name, suits." Judai replied. 'That and it's kinda close to your real name,' he thought to himself.**

**"I'm probably never gonna see you again, can I do something to remember you by?" Judai asked.**

**"What did you have in mind?" Ryo asked back.**

**"I want to draw you..." Judai asked shyly.**

**"Draw away then," Ryo said with a smile.**

**Judai smiled back and held out his hands making a necklace appear with a blank piece of paper inside and a pencil.**

**"Whoaaa," Ryo said in amazement. Amazed by the magically appearing items or by how great the merman was doing.**

**About another 2 minutes later and Judai was done. He stored it in his necklace before saying, "I have to go now I don't want my father to know where I've been."**

**He leaned over and gave Ryo a quick kiss on the cheek before jumping back into the waves.**

**Ryo took one last good look at him before him and his tail disappeared beneath the blue crystalline water of the sea. "I wonder if I'll ever see him again."**

**-End flash back-**

"I wonder what he's doing right now?" Ryo muttered to himself. He was actually beginning to miss the merman he dubbed 'Jaden'. He hadn't seen him since last week since he saw him in the Ocean looking at him. They waved to each other like before, that was before he shot back under the water with a face full of worry.

"I kinda miss him." He looked at the necklace and the image inside as the flash back replayed in his mind like mad.

* * *

Back with Judai, Asuka and Johan

"First rule of becoming human. Don't ever under any circumstances let my legs get wet during the day. If I do, I turn back into a merman and can't turn back into a human for another day. Rule 2, a merperson can turn into a human after sunrise, any time is fine. But they will turn back into a human upon sundown. This rule is affected by the change in season. During summer, the allotted time is around 8:30 for safety reasons. In winter, 5pm, again for safety reasons. Spring and Autumn are normal sundown times, 7 pm for us. Rule 3, *sigh*, a merperson is not supposes to fall in love with a human. Back home, love is considered unconditional and we just marry who we feel or in some cases, who are parents think we should marry. If a mer superior like a father or above, finds out that some merperson lower than them has fallen in a love with a human, they have the right to kill the one who's fallen in love. That's also the other reason I've left home…"

"The other reason?" Johan and Asuka asked.

'Wait, don't tell me' Johan though

"Something rather bad happened about a week ago, my father, kind of caught me sneaking out to meet the human I've been seeing for a while. I still don't know his name yet, I've never asked and it never occured to me. I just nicknamed him Zane like he nicknamed me Jaden. Anyway, I'd snuck out to meet him one night but once I reached him, I could feel my father approaching so I shot back down and explained all to my father...

**-Flash back-**

**Judai had just been found out by his father and was currently sitting in the throne room talking with his father and mother.**

**Judai's father and king of the Seas surrounding Japan, Yoruu, was an older merman around the age of 41 who had the same kind of hair Judai had only longer and red eyes. He had a scar running across his chest from some trouble he ran into when he was 20, that's not important though. He had a rich deep red coloured tail, also with two lighter fins at his hips, his end fins being the same colour.**

**Judai's mother and Yoruu's wife, Mei, was a very pretty mermaid around the age of 37. She had long black hair and green eyes. She wore a sea green blue shell bra and her tail was roughly the same colour, with electric blue hip fins and end fins the same colour as well.**

**"Judai, I can't believe you," Yoruu said dissapointed.**

**"Dad if I'm in love with a human I can't help it. What's the issue with it anyway?" Judai asked annoyed.**

**"Humans are dangerous, you know this!"**

**"This one isn't."**

**"Who is it anyway that interests you so much?" Yoruu asked intruiged.**

**Judai couldn't let his father know he was gay so he made something up.**

**"It's a girl my age called Alexus. I met her when I was a child and we've been seeing each other a few times since. She's really nice though and she would never do me any harm."**

**"What's to say she won't turn on you and hand you over as a science experiment or something?"**

**"I trust her!"**

**"Is trust really enough Judai?"**

**"I love her and she love me, what else is there?" Judai asked.**

**"She's a human, you're a merman. It would never work!" Yoruu shouted back.**

**Mei had had just about enough with their arguements.**

**"Would you two just stop arguing already!" Mei shouted.**

**"Mei," "mom,"**

**"How about we make a wager," Mei asked getting both their attentions.**

**"If Judai can prove to us that humans are not evil and that they can love someone of another species, then we will let you go. If you don't though, you'll remain here with us and never return to the surface again. We'll give you one month and starting next monday, we'll wash you upshore. There's a nice house up there with a pool in it and I'm sure the person living there will be willing to help you, I've met their parents, a week before they died sadly. The choice is all yours Judai."**

**He gasped at her offer, "If I fail, I'll never get to go to the surface again?"**

**"If you really love this Alexus, then you'll have full confidence in yourself," Mai said cheering him up.**

**Judai looked at his father and shook his hand striking the deal.**

**-Flash back end-**

"I struck the deal with them and as of Monday night, I rolled up via a storm into your pool. My mother also said she knew you'r parents Johan, about a week before they died, did they ever tell you?"

"My parents never told me they met a mermaid. They must have wanted to keep such a big thing as your race a secret, even from their only son," Johan said kinda dissapointed.

"Is that all that we should know?" Asuka asked to be safe

"The only other Rule a mer has, is to not let a human know what they are should they become a human and travel to land. Since I came to you as a merman, we're all safe. And as for my eyes you've seen me excited, blue, scared which is yellow, red is anger, and green is happiness." Upon saying about happiness, Judai smiled and his eyes began changing green. "There is one more invocable colour change, black and grey, pure anger. When pure anger takes over, we never usually rest until what we hated, whether it was an object or a fellow merperson, is destroyed. It's a trait I wish I never had, it caused a lot of issues in the past what with being Prince and all."

"You're a prince?" Asuka and Johan said surprised.

"Yeah, my dad's the king of the sea surrounding Japan so they're are quite a few people who don't like me because I get near everything with the title of royalty. I sort of wish I wasn't royalty some days, it's too much hard work and too much hatred." Judai replied depressed.

"Let's not press onto that issue, the more important Issue is finding this guy you dubbed Zane, you got any leads for us to go on?" Asuka asked.

"I don't know where he lives really or what is true name is, but he must live around here somewhere, he goes to the beach a lot. I'll know who he is when I see him. Also, I get a really warm feeling when he's near so that should make it easier."

Johan and Asuka took a minute to process the information. Asuka grinned widely as a great idea came to mind.

"Well, if the one you love hangs out a lot at the beach, then let's go down for the day, whatdya say?"

"Sounds good to me, we won't be going near the water will we?" The merman-turned-human asked.

"Don't worry, we stay away from it anyway. Johan's kinda scared of water."

"What happened to him that made him so scared?"

"You're mother met my parent's right? She knows how they died and so does Jounochi and you. That boat crash, my parents were on it, can't stand water since then," Johan explained, a trail of sadness in his voice.

Judai thought it best not to press on the issue of his parents death and just played along with the teens on the going to the beach thing. It was around lunch time so they all grabbed lunch first before heading on down to the beach. Judai was just more focused on finding 'Zane' than he was wanting to eat. He would find his loves true name and he would make him all his.

* * *

**Nexus: Oh my bloody lord! My brain had been so over-run with so many other ideas that I've barely had time to update this one, whoever's still holding out on it that is.**

**Judai: Oh come on Nexus, people will grow to the story eventually, besides. You won't need as many chapters if you keep this length up!**

**Nexus: I guess you're right.**

**Everyone: See you all sometime before Christmas for the real chapter 4 of this story!**


	5. Chapter 4: The after storm, Shou and Ryo

**Nexus: Decided this deserved and update. I was going to do another story first but this is the first story that my brain would give me ideas for, so sorry to any of those who wanted me to update the Mermaid Melody next.**

**Judai: I'm sure they can hold out till next Tuesday.**

**Nexus: Same here**

**Shou: So, finally introducing me huh?**

**Nexus: Yes I am, but you're not Ryo's brother.**

**Shou and Ryo: WHAT?!**

**Nexus: You'll see, you're not this brother yet, shit will happen and it will be weird but that's awesome!**

**Shou: But...**

**Nexus: Lets just get onto chapter 4, here ya go guys!**

**Nexus: Ah, I also need to give chapter dedication to IceRush because they gave me my first nice review on this story and gave me some hope.**

**Also thanks to Latina shewolf, flamingcookies21, and yang003 for either following the story and further thanks to IceRush and for faving the story. Big thanks to all 5 of you! I'm trying to put in someone elses name but whenever I save it deletes the name so imagine there is no space and thanks to sheton .cj for fave and follow.**

* * *

Chapter 4: The after storm, Shou and Ryo.

"Whoaaaa." Judai's eyes widened in excitement and amazement when he saw the beach. He'd seen it before from the ocean and the lighthouse dock but seeing it on land, was a breath taking site for him. The crystal blue sea water with the suns reflection shining down on it, the waves gently lapping each other, and of course, lots of happy faces all around enjoying this nice sunny day.

Ryo was taking a short walk around the beach, he was off duty for a little while so he decided to walk around to clear his head. All he could think about recently were Manjoume's words and 'Jaden.'

'I wonder how he's doing since last week,' Ryo thought before he saw Johan and Asuka and someone else.

Ryo's heart suddenly skipped a beat and his mind froze when he saw a familiar site.

'No way, that can't be,' Ryo began to think with a shaky breath in his mind, 'there's no way it's Jaden.'

Ryo began slowly walking over to the 3 to confirm his suspicion.

Asuka looked up for a minute before waving her hand to Ryo saying, "Ryo, morning!"

"Hey Asuka, Johan," he began to say before looking at Judai saying, "Jaden?"

'This isn't good!' Both Johan and Asuka though.

Judai could feel his face becoming bright red. 'It's him, Zane, well Ryo now. Oh this is bad, I can't let him know it's me! Make something up, make something up...'

"Jaden, sorry but my name's Judai," Judai said with a straight face.

Ryo looked at him with a shocked face.

"Sorry, you just, look like someone I knew, a boy named Jaden, he looks exactly like you," Ryo said, slightly sad.

"Can I talk to you for a second, Ryo," Jaden said before walking away to an area where there were no people around, Ryo following him.

"You said you knew Jaden?" Judai asked.

"Yeah, do you know him too?" Ryo asked back hopefully.

"He's my brother," Judai lied.

"Brother, but, you're human." Ryo whispered the last bit.

"As strange at it seems, it's true. Jaden was always different, something happened when he was young and he was turned into a, you know."

"I know," Ryo said confirming Judai.

"Just don't ever tell anyone you know of merpeople, Jaden always wanted me to keep it secret, I can trust you right?" As Judai said the last word, he said it rather strongly, his eyes turning red without him wanting to.

"Ri-Right," Ryo replied slightly scared. "I see you have eyes like him though, it's a trait. You're sure your human?"

"Positive, we learnt that even though Jaden was a merman, I had the eye trait of a merman. Apparently our mother was a mermaid so certain genes got passed down."

"I guess that explains it," Ryo said slowly. 'Why don't I still buy it then. I'm pretty sure it would be rather rare for a mermaid to have an affair with a human and have 2 identical twins who sound and look the same, both have the eye trait, but ones a human and the others a merman. I don't think it's right but, this guy doesn't recognise me. And Jaden would have called me Zane.' Ryo thought to himself.

"Hey, will I see you around?" Ryo asked, his voice slightly husky.

"Yea-yeah," Judai replied, a blush spreading across his face, his eyes turning green and red in the process.

"Good," Ryo said before leaning towards Judai's ear, whispering, "I don't know what it is about you that I like, but you make me feel the same way Jaden did, only better."

He stopped whispering and gave Judai a quick peck on the cheek before turning around saying, "see you around, Judai."

Judai just stood there holding his hand to the cheek that Ryo had kissed before Johan and Asuka came around the corner to find Judai in a shocked state blushing like mad, his eyes also turning back to their original brown colour.

"Judai..." Asuka began to ask, "are you meaning to tell me that, Ryo is the one you're looking for!?"

"Yeah." Judai said matter-of-factly.

Johan and Asuka just looked at him with blank faces before unleashing their anger.

"WHAT! NO!" they screamed as they took a hold of Judai and began to run back to Johan's house at lightning speed.

"Hey, come on! What did I say wrong?" Judai screamed, partially in pain as he was dragged against his will back home.

When they reached the house, the first thing Johan and Asuka did was throw Johan onto the bed and lock the door tight before screaming in his face, "WHY OF ALL PEOPLE DID YOU HAVE TO FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM!?"

"Listen, it's not my fault that he's fallen for me so quickly without realising who I really am. He's the one I love and I know it!" Judai screamed back, his eyes turning back to deep red in anger.

Johan was first to speak. "Well, it's just, there's only one slight problem with us helping you fall in love with him…" he began to say.

Asuka finished for him, " is that the two of us are in love with him too."

"You what…" Judai said annoyed.

"We love his too… BUT, I'm still willing to help you. You love him more than we do and probably stand a better chance. You're cuter and he seems to have taken an instant liking to you from the blush that was on your face."

Judai's eyes widened and began turning sea blue. "Really, you'd actually give up on a person you're in love with just to help me?"

"Yeah, even I'm willing to help. After all, there are plenty of other fish in the sea right?" Johan spoke out

Judai was nearly in tears. He leapt up from the bed and gave them both a massive group hug. "Thank you, you have no idea how much that means to me!" For Judai, Ryo really was true love at first sight. Something that doesn't happen often in the human world.

* * *

On the other side of the beach, Ryo was settling down on the lighthouse dock from a hard day's work at the beach and couldn't help but remember a certain boy that he met.

'Judai, Jaden's human brother, or so he says. I don't actually think he's human or who he says he is. If he's really that Jaden though, then why didn't he recognise me? He might have just been trying to throw me off but we're such good friends. Unless it's because of what his parents did to him but then he wouldn't be here. Maybe, he really is Jaden's brother'

"Judai," Ryo said quietly before 2 heads appeared from the water.

"Jun, Cherise," Ryo said with a low gruff voice.

"Been a while hasn't it Ryo." Manjoume replied.

"Jun, I've been thinking for a while and I think I've finally figured out what's up with you two."

"Really, gives us your best hypothesis then," Cherise challenged.

"You two, you're merpeople aren't you?"

Jun and Cherise suddenly froze.

"You must be, no one else ever sees you guys during the time your both away from Duel Academy. Thinking back, you said to me that you'd been captured by Johan's parents before you destroyed their boat and ended their lives. It was revenge for them accidentally capturing you. Johan's dad told me he'd seen a mermaid but he'd never met a merman and the time that you were caught and the time their boat was sank were the only 2 times that Johan never came with them. They were the only two times where Johan would have been at Duel Academy. If you two aren't merpeople, then nothing else would add up correctly. So, am I right?" Ryo said smugly.

Jun just smiled at him, "nice try Ryo but that's not corre-" he began to say before Cherise stopped him.

"-just give it up Jun, he's worked it out, I'm pretty sure Ryo wouldn't tell anyone, right?" she said turning to Ryo with a pleading look.

"I have no reason to tell anyone, I already know one merperson, besides, there's no point in telling the authorities that it was you two who killed Johan's parents, we have no proof that you're really humans so we could never do you in. But I need to ask you one more thing, do either of you know a merman called Jaden?"

"Jaden..." Manjoume began to say before laughing out loud, "that little shrimp called himself Jaden?"

"So you do know him," Ryo confirmed.

"Sorry, Jaden's not his real name. He's a merman like me alright but he's not called Jaden."

Ryo looked shock, "what's he really called then?"

"Can't help ya there, that would be breaking the rules of the merpeople code. I gotta go anyway, there's someone, I have to go find," Manjoume said before flipping down into the water, his black/ onyx tail appearing briefly before disappearing beneath the waves.

Cherise sighed, "man, sometimes I hate that man."

"I thought you two were going out," Ryo replied.

Cherise swam over to the lighthouse dock and pulled herself up onto the edge of it, sitting next to Ryo. She had a yellow seashell bra, the same shade as the Ra yellow uniform and her tail was the same as Judai's minus the hip fins and was the same colour as the uniform too.

"We supposedly are at Duel Academy but it's all an act. It's just in case there are any other merpeople at Duel Academy who would be looking for us. When posing as lovers, we seem completely different to other merpeople, it throws them off our tracks to keep us safe. Originally, Jun only set out to destroy the ship and it's cargo and I was only helping him carry the weapons, I never really wanted revenge but there's still something about Jun that makes me happy. He ended up destroying the ship and killing everyone on board, it was said that no-one survived so we thought we were safe. Until we found out that 'Jaden' had told a human and that that human was looking for us with the info of what we looked like. Our names meant nothing to him, I even think he forgot them after a while."

"Who'd he tell, do I know him?" Ryo asked.

"You might, some older human called Jounochi," Cherise said jogging her memory.

"Jounochi Katsuya?" Ryo asked to see if it was Jounochi.

Cherise clicked her fingers. "That's him, Jounochi Katsuya."

Ryo sat still for a minute before saying, "thank you, Cherise."

Cherise looked at the hand he'd extended out to her before shaking it, "it's fine, Jun needs to learn his lesson anway, I'd better go after him."

She hopped into the water before Ryo called something out to her.

"I won't go after you, you seem to have no major part in killing Johan's parents. Tell Jun thought that I won't rest until I've taken him down for what he did, even if he is a merman, I'll still find him."

Cherise just smiled and nodded before flipping down as well leaving Ryo to wonder off back home before it got too dark.

* * *

**-back at Johan's house, 8 o'clock-**

Judai had headed downstairs into the kitchen with a key in hand. Johan had given him a free key to the American style fridge freezer of the house so that if Judai was hungry or thirsty whenever, he could get something. Asuka had her own one too.

As he reached the fridge, unlocked the door and grabbed a can of coke, he opened only to find that his legs beneath his had fallen short on him.

"Whoa!" Judai screamed as he realised that it had reached that time of day and his legs had effortlessly turned back into his tail for the night until sunrise. His coke, luckily, wasn't open so he didn't cause a huge mess on the floor. Judai gave a sigh as he called out "Johan, Asuka, could you help me out here?!"

Johan and Asuka heard Judai's scream and came running out into the kitchen only to find that his legs had been reverted back into his red scaly tail that it should be.

"It's not time already is it?" Johan asked.

Judai just stared at him with a blank face. "It obviously time! Now what, I mean, the pools still not cleared so where will I sleep? I still need water."

"Hmm, hey Johan? Couldn't he just sleep in the massive bath-tub upstairs?" Asuka questioned.

"He could yeah. I'll go fill it with water, you carry him up." Johan replied, running up stairs.

"Hey, why me?"

"Because you're stronger than me!"

"Fine," Asuka grunted in defeat picking up the merman from the floor. "You're kinda heavy, you know that right?"

"Blame the fishy tail," Judai replied.

Once Asuka got to the bathroom, she kicked the door open to find that Johan had already filled it up for him and it was ready for him to sleep in. The bath-tub was a mini swimming pool in its own rights. Plenty of space for Judai to sleep in.

Asuka began to lower him into the tub until he jumped out of her arms, not waiting any longer to get into the water and away from the pain of not being in it.

"Whoa, it's perfect. Thank you so much!" Judai said as he dove under the water of the tub to take a quick swim around in it, it was pretty deep as well. A good metre or so. After re-surfacing, he had a big smile on his face.

"Glad it's okay for you, night Judai," Asuka said going out the room across to Johan's room.

"See you tomorrow," Johan followed up with, before following Asuka.

"Good night," Judai said before sinking back down into the water to relax.

'Ryo,' Judai began to think before remembering this afternoon, when Ryo kissed him, Ryo had never kissed him before when they were friends. 'Perhaps, me being a human draws Ryo towards me more. He did say there was something that made him feel better than when I was a merman. Maybe, if I get Johan and Asuka to prove that love does exist, maybe I can ask one of them to use their wish to turn me human.'

Judai carried on thinking about things for a little while before falling asleep.

Across in the other room, Johan and Asuka were laying in bed together thinking about something.

"You know what, I still can't get over the fact that merpeople exist, let alone the fact we're keeping one with us," Johan said blankly.

"I know how you feel, but, if we can just help Judai to fall in love with Ryo and vice versa and prove that love exists, then we get our wish and I don't have to move to Australia with Fubuki," Asuka replied.

"That's right, does he even know you're staying here another night?"

"No, I'll see him tomorrow and tell him what's going on."

"Don't mention that Judai's a merman though, not because of the whole wish thing but because Fubuki's a marine scientist."

"I won't, you don't have to worry about that."

"Good," Johan said before yawning, closing his eyes, drifting off into sleep.

Asuka shortly followed up.

Another night of peaceful sleep in Domino. Or so that's what a lot of people though. Only 2 days after one massive storm had blown in, another one was slowly creeping its way back onto the shores of Domino City. The last storm had bought in a special catch by the name of Judai. And this catch was no different, a flash of sun yellow appearing the waves of the night and the disappearing again. Kinda like De Ja Vu.

* * *

**-the next morning-**

"Hmmm, what, morning sunrise already?" Judai said as he rose up from under the waters of the bath. He steadily pulled himself out over the side, letting the sun shining in from the window fall onto his tail, transforming him back to his human side, a massive red shining glow engulfing his body in the process.

Ryo happened to be walking down onto the beach to begin his duties when he saw the flash of red come from the window.

'What the,' he thought before Judai appeared at the window, a massive smile spread across Ryo's face when he saw him. 'he looks just like an angel, I'll have to see him later.'

Back to Judai,

He was still dressed as he was yesterday as when a merperson changes to human then mer then back again, they keep whatever they were wearing before except it's all fresh again. He looked out the bathroom window overlooking the pool area to see that it was in tatters again. Like on the night he appeared.

He rushed in to Johan and Asuka's room.

"Johan, Asuka, WAKE UP!"

Asuka was first to stir from her sleep. "Judai, what's up? You seem stressed." Johan had now fully woken to, still not used to seeing Judai changed again.

"You're the ones that should be stressing! Your pools are wrecked again."

"WHAT!" Johan shouted, turning the TV on just in time to catch last night's news.

_And in recent news, another storm has hit Domino City's beaches once more with more damage than last time affecting more houses than was predicted. No one was harmed in the storm but the damage will take more time to repair, some people say the damage made around the beaches could take around 3-4 days to fully fix up. And in other news some…_

Johan had then turned the TV off and was rushing over to the window to see the damage. Most of the water from his pool was gone and there wasn't much sea water left in it, it looked less than half full. And very dirty. Again, many washed up random objects. Wood, seaweed, kelp, lots of random things. Johan's shed had also taken a beating as the side walls and door were rotting, ripped and soaking wet, in short, the whole place was a wrecking site.

All three teens ran outside to see the damage upfront again.

"I just don't get it, 2 storms in 3 days. It's not heard of." Asuka said, picking up the remains around the area.

"It's my father's doing," Judai said with a blank expression on his face.

"Huh?" both Johan and Asuka asked. "You're father?"

"I already told you my dad is the King of the seas surrounding Japan, he can make storms appear whenever he wants. He controls the waves. I can too but nowhere near as well as he can."

"I didn't know you could control water," Asuka said.

"It seems weird but, watch," Judai replied to her as he held his hand out over the pool, shifting the water in it so that a mould of Ryo's head appeared before them.

"Wow, that's amazing!" Asuka remarked.

Johan wasn't listening to any of it. He was walking over towards his shed, after seeing a sparkle of yellow and light teal blue coming from the ripped walls.

"Hey, Johan… Johan?" He wasn't listening at all, just walking over.

"What's got his attention?" Asuka asked as she ran over to catch him up. Judai following in pursuit.

"Johan?!"

"There's something in the shed, I saw a flash of yellow and light teal just a second ago…"

"You don't think that it's…?"

"Yeah, could be, we've already had one in in the recent storms, what's to say another could have?"

"By 'another' you mean someone like me don't you?" Judai asked with a peeved look on his face.

"I do!" Johan said proudly.

Judai also spotted the flash of colours and thought of a plan. "Let's just rip the wood down and surprise said person hiding. It needs replacing anyway."

"That's… not a bad idea at all, let's do it." Asuka said taking action by getting in place to rip the wood open. "Alright, on the count of 3 everyone."

"One, Two, THREE!" They all shouted as they ripped the wood open.

The shed was the same as it had always been but the sun loungers were tossed aside still and there was a frightened person sitting on the cooler holding all the drinks.

"Well, guess we were wrong…" Johan said taking a good luck at the boy who was sitting on the cooler. He had wild light teal hair, a pair of round glasses, a yellow shirt and a pair of black jeans. He was also wearing a pair of simple black trainers with yellow laces. "Who are you?"

The frightened boy stared at Johan until his eyes wandered over to Judai's. They boy's eyes were currently a yellowy colour with a hint of bright pure cerulean hiding behind them, and Judai knew those eyes anywhere.

Asuka noticed the staring between the two boys.

"Marafuji Shou?" Judai eventually spoke out.

"Prince Yuki Judai?" the younger boy said in return recognising his face.

"What! You two, know each other?" Asuka and Johan asked in shock

"I recognised those eyes anywhere. This is Marafuji Shou, a servant at the palace," he said placing an arm around Shou's shoulders. He then turned to look at his face, "but uh, what are you doing here?"

"I could say the same for you, prince."

"Wait a minute... if you two know each other, then does that mean you're a merman to Shou?" Asuka asked. If Judai knew this person and he worked at Judai's palace, then it was almost certain that he was.

Shou suddenly gained a very scared look on his face. "Judai, you told them what you are? You're father now has even more rights to kill you and those two. Do you have any idea what you're doing?"

"Yeah, I'm proving to father that love exists. What are you doing here though?"

"Well," Shou began to say before a flash back came to him.

**-flash back-**

_"Shou, I'm starting to get a little worried about Judai," Yoruu said sitting on his throne._

_"I'm sure he'll be fine you're majesty, after all, this is Judai we're talking about," Shou replied._

_Marafuji Shou, personal servant to Prince Yuki Judai and humble friend of King Yoruu and Queen Mei. His tail was a most unusual colour, it was the same colour as Cherise's, a very warm sun yellow colour, not too many merpeople host yellow for a tail colour. He also doesn't have glasses._

_"I know that, but, what if the two humans we sent him too aren't very nice and took him away as a science experiment?"_

_"Dear!" Mei shouted in protest, "the two that we sent Judai to are very kind people, I've seen them on the beach before a few times, they could never mean no harm to Judai, their hearts looked way too pure to bring any bad causes to our son."_

_"Still, this is why I sent for Shou," Yoruu began to say turning back to him, "I'm sending you up there too Shou."_

_"Heh, you're sending me to the same place?"_

_"Yes, you've been to the surface before so I expect you'll be able to help Judai out." Yoruu said the last part rather quietly._

_"You actually want your son to succeed?" Shou asked in surprise._

_Yoruu sighed, "yes, I do. Despite the fact that it's a human he's fallen in love with, I can't help but want him to prove that love exists to me. So Shou, will you help him?"_

_"Of course I will, anything for my Prince, King and Queen," he replied bowing._

_"In which case, I'll send another storm their way tonight and wash you up there, good luck."_

_"Yes my King."_

**-end flash back-**_  
_

"So that's how Judai wound up here, his mother and father knew where I lived and sent the storms directly to us, that's why my house received the most damage out of all the other houses," Johan exclaimed.

"That's right," Shou confirmed.

"You know, if we want to talk this over, we should probably head inside. I'm pretty sure we'd all be more comfortable sitting on warm chairs than sitting in a rotting shed with an ice cooler for a chair," Asuka suggested.

With that said, the four of them headed indoors to talk about everything that had happened in the last 3 days.

After they'd argued about who would sit where, Asuka and Johan sat on one couch together, whilst opposite them were Judai and Shou on another couch.

"So, let's get this all straight okay? I think I've got most of it," Asuka said slowly, preparing herself for a long speech.

"Yuki Judai, you came in 3 days ago when a storm washed you directly into our pool. The storm was your father's doing, King of the Sea's surrounding Japan making you it's Prince. You'd struck a deal with him that you'd prove to him that love does exist for humans and also that you'd find your true love and make your father see that humans can love another species. Upon the day that you washed up, you had no choice but to tell us you were a merman but since you came to us like that and your mother trusts us, we're safe from the merpeople code. But, to our disappointment, the one you've fallen in love with and is in love with your merman side in return, is none other that Marufuji Ryo, our previous and still kind of is, love interest."

She paused before turning to Shou.

"And you, you're Shou, Ju-"

Asuka was cut short by Shou, "Marafuji, Marafuki Shou, at least remember my last name.

"Right, Mara... Marafuji, Marufuji... MARAFUJI!" Asuka and Johan shouted the last one together.

Shou looked at them confused.

"Um, we need to know how you spell that," Johan said trying to remain calm.

"M-a-r-a-f-u-j-i, why?" Shou replied.

Asuka and Johan let out a huge sigh of relief, "oh thank Ra, that was way too close."

"How was spelling my last name too close," Shou asked.

"Ryo's last name is Marufuji, even though they sound the same, Marufuji is spelt, m-a-r-U-f-u-j-i, that's all. Ryo's human too so that could have been an interesting on to explain." Asuka finished off and then carried on with what she was saying before.

"Like I was saying. Marafuji Shou, you too are also a merman like Judai, you're his personal servant and humble friend of his parents. The two of you seem to be pretty good friends and that's why I presume Judai's father sent you here and not anyone else. You washed up last night, the storm that sent you here was also Judai's fathers creation, hitting us directly again, completely damaging the outside of Johan's house again. You also seem to have been to the human world before. If you'd washed up last night with no way in or out then there's no way you've of ended up here with a full set of clothing. As for you becoming human..."

Shou could see that Asuka was lost for words and helped her, "I follow the same rule Judai does, sunrise to sundown. Luckily it's summer so the sundown time doesn't apply for us until around 8 pm. If it was winter, it would be 4 pm.

"Does that mean most merpeople have sunrise till sundown changes?" Johan asked.

"Yes, except for those of a higher power like the King and Queen and 2 others who were outcast when they murdered humans. Judai is still sundown to sunrise until his coral celebration when he turns 18 in a month and is set to marry someone." Shou said the marriage part sadly.

"Marriage?" Asuka and Johan asked.

"That's the one other reason why I'm doing this. It is literally a month till my coral celebration, a time when the King's son or daughter must marry. If they have found love and their father chooses them of being worthy, I marry who I want. But because I love a human, my father has said that if I can prove Ryo loves me, he'll let me be and let me live on the surface, in return for a small price." Judai explained.

"I'm surprised your father isn't mad about you being gay, most fathers are." Johan said bringing up a strange memory.

"That's, the other thing..." Judai said slowly.

It dawned on Asuka first, "you haven't told him it's a male you're in love with!"

"No, I lied and said it was a girl named Alexus, I had to make something up for them to let me do this whole thing in the first place!" Judai retaliated.

"Overall, Judai's father sent Judai here to us to prove humans can love another species. He thinks Judai's in love and has been seeing a girl but that's wrong, it's Ryo. Judai has one month to prove it, before he's forced to marry someone at his Coral Celebration and can never return to the surface again. Judai's father was worried and sent Shou here to keep an eye on Judai and help him because Shou's been to the surface world before. I think that's right so far..." Johan gave his thoughts.

"Seems pretty much accurate to me," Asuka agreed.

*knock knock*

"Huh?" Judai said, "wonder who that could be?"

Judai got up to open the door to 3 people.

"Jounochi, Ryo," he looked down at the third guy, "who are you?"

"Marufuji Leo, nice to meet you Judai." Leo replied happily.

"What are you three doing here anyway?" Asuka asked as she walked up to the door as well.

"I came to see how your pool was doing, seems like we're gonna need to clear it all out again after last night," Jounochi replied.

"I came to see Judai, I need to ask him something," Ryo followed up.

Leo was just staring into blank space at someone inside the house, it was Shou.

"Asuka, who's he?" Leo asked, "I've never seen him around here before."

Asuka followed his line of sight all the way to Shou.

"Him, that's Marafuji Shou." Asuka replied.

"Marafuji?" Ryo and Leo asked in shock.

"It's okay, it's spelt with an A not a U, I'm not a long lost relative or anythi-" Shou began to say until he saw Leo, his left eye turning yellow, the other staying it's teal blue colour. 'There's something about that boy, Leo, he's kinda cute.'

Ryo gasped mentally when he saw that. 'Him too, his eye just changed colour, like Judai and Jaden can.'

"That's right, Judai, can I ask you something?" Ryo asked.

All eyes turned to Ryo and Judai.

"Yeah," Judai replied steadily.

"Would you, like, to go to the Annual Domino Fair, with me?"

Johan and Asuka's faces froze up before saying, "of course he'd like to go!"

"Well, would you?" Ryo asked smiling.

Judai smiled and nodded, "yes."

Ryo then launched into a hug with him, smiling away to himself.

Judai returned the hug and let go after a while.

"I'll see you here tomorrow about 4, okay?" Ryo asked.

"Okay," he replied smiling back at Ryo. He was about to call to Shou and Ryo to Leo until they turned around to see someone else with him.

"Leo?" Shou asked as Leo looked very nervous standing next to Shou.

"Um, would you, like to go with me, to the Fair as well?" Leo asked very shyly.

'He actually likes me enough to ask me on a date?' Shou thought to himself. "Yeah," he replied smiling.

Leo looked up from the floor, a huge blush spreading across his face, he wanted to ask something else too.

"Would you also like to hang out with me, just for the rest of the afternoon, we could go down the docks for a bit? If you like?" Leo asked in a husky voice, the same as Ryo did when he first met the human Judai.

A blush spread across Shou's face too before he smiled and said yes.

Leo lent down and kissed his cheek before standing Shou up and holding his hand, running out the door with him in tow.

"Shou?" Judai shouted when he saw Leo running with him.

"I'll be fine, I'll try and get back here later, if I don't, I'll come find you at the fair!" Shou shouted in return before turning around.

Asuka looked at Shou before asking, "they're going to the docks, will Shou be okay?"

"Nah, he'll be fine, it's Shou after all, he can take care of himself.

"Well, if he's going, then I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," Ryo said in that husky tone before leaning down and giving Judai another kiss on the cheek before heading back to lifeguard duty.

After Ryo had left, Jounochi looked at the boy with the teal hair running away to the Docks with Leo.

"Who is that kid anyway?" Jounochi asked.

"Marafuji Shou, he's my best friend and personal servant," Judai explained.

"Wait, does that mean, that storm..."

"Yep, father sent Shou up here to keep an eye on me."

"So, he's a merman like you, going to the docks, where there's lots of water?"

"Like I said, Shou can take care of himself. He won't be back before Sundown but he'll come find us tomorrow morning." Judai said proudly.

"If you say so, I'm gonna go get started on the pool, I'll call some people in for tomorrow when you're all at the Fair."

"Thank you, Jounochi," Johan said greatfully.

Jounochi left to go do his work and Johan, Asuka and Judai headed inside to explain to Judai what the Annual Domino fair was and prepare him for his date with Ryo.

* * *

**-time change, about 8ish, at the docks-**

Shou and Leo were having a great time chatting away to each other. Of course, Shou lied about his true self and said he just moved into Domino City. He'd moved in with Judai and they were currently just staying at Johan's for a month until the whole issue with their house got sorted.

Shou didn't even realise that the sun was setting really quickly, that was, until...

his head began to throb in pain as he held his hands to it, his eye both turning red in reaction to this.

"Shou!" Leo said as he stood up to try and help Shou with the pain.

"I'm fine, Leo, I just have to go," Shou said softly before standing up and diving into the Ocean much to Leo's shock.

"Shou!" Leo screamed when he saw Shou dive into the Ocean.

Shou looked at his worried face beneath the surface and quickly popped his head up.

"Shou?" Leo said in confusion.

"I'm fine, sometimes my head gets a little sore and I just need to be in water to calm me down," Shou lied. "I'm going to swim back to the shore to Johan's house, I'll see you tomorrow!"

With that, Shou shot back underneath the waves, leaving a confused slightly lonely Leo to walk back to his house alone. 'Shame Shou couldn't walk back with me,' Leo began to think, 'I think I'm in love with that boy, there's just, something about him.'

Shou on the other hand was not heading to shore, he was looking around for a spot on the sea bed to sleep on. He really didn't feel like swimming back to the palace, plus he wasn't technically supposed to be there any more unless he was reporting on progress.

* * *

**-midnight-**

All of Domino City was now pretty much in deep sleep as a cloaked figure stood on the shore.

"According to Daichi, that little shrimp's staying with two humans," the figure said looking at Johan's house, "Prince Yuki Judai, I will find you and kill Ryo's most precious person, his 'Jaden.'

* * *

**Nexus: Don't ask how long it took me to do this chapter, I've done it all in 1 day and I feel shattered and so ready to write chapter 5! Chapter 5 will be based on the fair!**

**Leo: Since when did I fall for Shou?**

**Judai and Shou: And what's with those two going head over heels for us in this chapter!**

**Nexus: All will be explained in chapter 6 possibly chapter 5**

**I'll see you all for chapter 5 soon, I'm too dead right now to say anything else here BYE!**


	6. Chapter 5: Poison

**Nexus: T_T yeah, I'm really sorry to all the MM fans out there but my brain just won't give me ideas. On the other hand, my brain is giving me many ideas for this story. Sorry I haven't uploaded in a while but I started writing a new very long story and needed a break so I'm giving you all chapter 5.**

**GX cast: About time!**

**Jun: You guys know the drill, she doesn't own us or any other Yugioh Characters or Aquamarine.**

**Cherise: And we're pretty sure you all know she owns HER ideas and HER Oc's.**

**Nexus: I have nothing more to say than enjoy chapter 5, I said it would be the day of the fair, but this is the fight set up for the fair. These next two chapters are going to be over 1 day.**

* * *

Chapter 5: Poison

-somewhere on the Sea Floor-

Shou was just waking up upon feeling the suns rays rise over the Ocean, his mind wandering over yesterday.

Leo had asked him out on a date to the Annual Domino Fair. Shou actually went the year before when he came for a visit to the surface and he thouroghly enjoyed it. It would be much more fun with Leo of course.

Shou headed straight for the surface, swimming to the shore as fast as he could and making sure no one was around.

Once he saw it was all clear he dragged himself onto the shore, letting the suns rays transform him back to human form, that flash of yellow appearing and disappearing along with the transformation.

"I wonder which house it is?" Shou asked himself. He didn't actually remember which house he'd been washed into and from the front they all looked the same.

Luckily, Judai was just waking up and as the suns rays hit him too, a massive flash of red came from a nearby window.

"Oh thank Ra," Shou blessed as he began running towards the house where the flash came from, Johan's house.

* * *

Judai, having just turned human, looked out of the window to see Shou running towards the house.

He ran downstairs as fast as he could, making sure he grabbed the key for the back gate so he could let Shou in.

By the time he unlocked the gate, Shou came belting towards Judai, giving him a quick hug.

"Oh thank god you transformed when you did! I didn't know which house it was so I really have to thank you Judai," Shou said gratefully.

"How come you never came back, what happened?" Judai asked worried.

"Well, when we where out on the docks, I kinda started to transform back but before Leo saw anything major, I dived into the Ocean and lied that I was going to go back to yours from the shore, of course I had to sleep on the Sea Floor instead. But nothing major happened, Leo knows nothing." Shou explained.

"Know what?" A voice asked.

"Leo?" Shou asked in shock as he turned around to see him.

Leo decided to take an early morning walk. "I heard the words 'Leo knows nothing,' so, what don't I know?" Leo asked again.

Shou had to make something up fast. "I was just telling Judai about the surprise I was going to give you tonight at the Fair. We talked out here because we didn't want Asuka or Johan to hear anything and tell you about it."

Leo thought it seemed legit enough. "Okay," he said before he pulled Shou closer. "I look forward to it," he replied in that husky tone again before leaning down to give him a chaste kiss on the cheek.

Whilst he carried on walking down the beach he called out, "don't forget, 4 this afternoon!"

"I won't!" Shou shouted back to him.

"So, now you gotta make up a surprise too, have fun with that," Judai said as he began walking back inside the house.

"Wait up," Shou called as he ran back inside along with Judai.

* * *

"I have just one question to ask," Judai began to say. "What actually is the Domino Annual Fair?"

Currently, everyone had woken up and were now contently eating their breakfast of pancakes and blueberries at the table until Judai spoke up.

"Huh, you don't know what it is?" Shou asked.

"How would I? I've been confined to sea for the last 17 years unlike you," Judai replied in an angry tone, then took a sip of his orange juice, smiling afterwards because it tasted really good.

Asuka thought she would explain. "The Domino Annual fair is an event held once a year in the centre to town, near to where Ryo lives basically. It's where everyone gathers to play games, listen to music and have a good time. We have things called 'stalls' that we set up to sell things and these stalls are also where games are played. You pay some money, play it and hopefully win a prize. We also have all sorts of silly events which you can take part in for fun. It's just a nice event to go and see everyone at. It also celebrates the History of Domino City as well."

"So it's kinda like a market and party combined into one?" Judai asked.

"Yeah, you have markets back home?" Johan asked in turn.

"Since there's lots of the Ocean to explore, many merpeople go out and explore the Ocean in search of treasures and anything we can find from ship wreckages. We then set up 'stalls' as well and sell them on for a good price, it's how we make money back home but if you live in Royalty or are looked after by them like me and Shou, then you don't really need to worry about money but we still go out and explore. Anything we find we exchange in the Treasury for money of our own."

"Sounds like life in the sea is pretty civilised then if you ask me," Johan replied very impressed.

When everyone had finished their breakfast, Asuka began cleaning up whilst Johan introduced the idea of TV to the two mermen.

During the explanation, a knock came at the door.

"I'll get it," Shou said standing up.

As the opened the door, a familiar face came to sight, a familiar one for Judai at least.

At the door stood a girl with cream coloured hair tied in a high flat swirly bun with some loose strands of hair running down the sides of her face. She had dark green eyes and olive coloured skin. She was currently sporting a Ra Yellow Uniform as that was the last thing she wore before coming ashore.

Judai looked at the door to see who it was, his face growing cold in expression, his left eye turning dark grey and his right eye turning blood red. His entire body began to emit a black glow around him with bits of it floating off into swirls. "What are you doing here?" He said very coldly and harshly.

"Judai, I just came to talk out our current situation on order of your father," the girl at the door replied.

"Heh," Judai smirked laughing slightly, "My father would never talk to the likes of you, murderer!"

Judai then turned to Shou, who's eyes had become bright yellow, telling him calmly, "Shou, step back, Cherise needs to be taught a lesson."

Before Judai did anything else, his normal attire melted away leaving a black crown covered in thorns and spikes, his family's crown of death. As for his body, his top disappeared leaving him bare chested but he appeared to have more muscle than he did before, a nice 6 pack shaping on him. His legs just kept a simple pair of black jeans with the same sort of spikes that were on the crown creating a chain that went down to his knees. His feet, bare footed.

Judai then held out his right hand towards the sink where Asuka was doing the washing up. With a flick of his second finger, the water rose out of the sink and flowed over Judai's head, with a flick of his hand above his head, the water formed into what looked like a very sharp weapon. It was an average sword but the inside of it looked like flowing water and the end of the sword glowed with a dripping purple substance, poison. Judai's sword was about 4ft long overall, more suited for close to slightly off range combat. The swords of merpeople are forged from Mytherial steel, which can usually be empowered by the magic of the nymph's. The end of his weapon though, the poison is a Royal Magic attribute. All Royals are born with a special magic. Judai's father Yoruu was born to Electricity, his mother Mei to Ice and of course, Judai to poison.

"Now, stand down Cherise or face me in battle!" He shouted pointing his weapon directly at her.

Shou, Asuka and Johan had all retreated to the back of the room, Asuka standing in the middle holding Shou and Johan who were clinging onto her for dear life.

Cherise sighed. "I guess I have no choice."

Luckily for her, since all the doors were open, she had a direct path to the sea, her water source.

Before that though, her attire also melted away leaving a simple red crown on her head, her hair also went from her high bun, to a high ponytail that fell quite a long way down her back, a red no sleeve but very short top and a pair of black Jean material shorts appeared too. She too had a chain like Judai but in red and looked more like fire on the ends of the spikes and only came halfway down the top part of her leg. She too, was bare footed.

With a flick of her right hand behind her back, the water from the sea rose and shot in a straight sharp line to her hand, when it then proceeded into the shape of a ball.

Leo, who just happened to be walking by at this time, again, nearly got hit by the sharp water that shot past him, this getting his full attention.

"What the!" he screamed as he turned to follow the water, watching it head straight through the two open doors and into the hands of a girl he'd never seen before.

He looked very closely at the current situation. Judai had red and black eyes, a sharp crown and was only wearing a pair of jeans and was also holding a sword filled with live water and dripping with poison. Because that makes total sense! He also looked at Cherise, noticing a same sort of attire theme going on. He decided to carry on watching, to see what other weird things he would want answers to.

The ball of water in Cherise's hand began to shift into a weapon. Her weapon was a sword much like Judai's in shape, a little bit shorter in length if of anything. Her sword was also forged from Mytherial steel and also had nymph magic after she pulled some strings with the outcast of the oceans. Her sword too was currently filled with water but that was easily changeable. She held up the second finger on her left hand and ran it down the water of the sword. As her finger ran down it, it glowed with a red aura, almost like fire and easily evaporated the water within the sword. To compensate for this though, she ran her finger back up the way, live fire replacing the empty slot. The end of her sword still had some magic to it. Usually, only Royal's get magic forged on the end of their swords, but the magic of the outcast was something that Cherise took an interest in. This is also how she learnt to transform whenever she wanted too. The end of her sword glowed with black swirls of shadows, Outcast Shadow magic. It was that or no magic at all and some magic was better than none.

Her eyes had also turned red, but not because of pure hatred. It was only because she was in control of a weapon and fighting with someone unconditionally so the enemy in this case, inherits the opponents eye colours as a sign of challenge accepted.

However, before the fight could begin, she looked at the three scared teens in the background and came up with a plan. She could sense another person behind her, so this gave her something to go on. Holding her left hand towards the teens at the back of the room, a black portal appeared before them. Swinging that same hand backward, another portal appeared, next to Leo outside.

"Go through it and get out of here. I'm taking this battle to the sea," Cherise explained as she too held her weapon to Judai to keep him at bay for a little while.

Shou looked Cherise in the eyes and looked beyond the colours of fight to see if her inner self really wanted them to get out of here. And she did.

Shou then continued by ushering the other two through the portal and appeared next to Leo, who's face showed great confusion.

"Care to tell me what the hell is going on here?" Leo looked Shou directly in the eyes to see if he was lying or not. "You're the only one who's almost completely unfazed with everything that's going on around us, so what is going on here?"

"I can't tell you right now," Shou replied in a low tone.

"Why?"

"I just can't, it's, something I vowed not to do whilst I'm here."

Leo looked at his face, he was clearly hiding something very important. He decided not to push the boy any further and would let him tell his story when he was ready.

"Whatever it is that's going on, just feel free to tell me the whole story when you're ready. But just one quick question, is magic real?" Leo's face lit up a little at the end, he always liked the idea of magic being real.

"Yes, it is."

"Are you-" Leo began to say, unable to find the words. "Like them? You have magic?"

"Yes, I do." Shou then turned his head a little. "Me, that girl and Judai, we aren't exactly human, we're not even supposed to be here."

"Hey." Leo grabbed his shoulder which made Shou's head turn back to him. "I'm not going to judge you if you do have magic or if you're not really human or something. I love you for you Shou, not what you might have been or are. And besides, having magic or not being human, it makes you even more mysterious, and it doesn't change the way I feel for you." Leo had been finding it hard to control himself around Shou, there was something there that just made his heart jump with joy.

Shou face and heart lightened a little. Leo loved him for him, not because of the Siren's curse or for the fact he had magic, but because he truly loved him.

"Maybe one of these days I'll tell you what's really going on around here, but for now, I think it's best we go to yours to talk some things out." Shou on the inside was so ready to tell Leo everything about him but his mind and heart knew that he would need to bend the story a little and not tell him what he truly was.

Leo smiled at Shou's happy face. He realised one issue with this scene, those 2!

Turning his head, his eyes full of shocked anger, he looked at the remaining teens and asked, "how much do you know?"

Asuka and Johan jumped a little at Leo's sudden question.

"Well," Asuka began to say but Johan came up with something better.

"We know pretty much what's going on here, we also know Shou and Judai's secret but we are also vowed never to tell anyone about it. It's been a tough week for me and Asuka and we got dragged into this whole magic thing without asking for it, it' just as hard for us to believe, you know, that magic's real. You're handling it pretty well."

"Ryo told me of the time he was turned into a doll and I guess I believed magic existed ever since I heard that story, it's not too much of a shock to me if it does exist, I was always a sucker for magic, and mythology." Leo looked back into the house to see that the two fighting had disappeared, a sound behind him explaining all.

* * *

Back inside Johan's house, Cherise and Judai still stood with their swords raised to their necks. Taking a step back, they raised their swords into the air to declare "FIGHT!"

Making the first move, Judai took a massive lunge straight for Cherise, hoping to end it early.

However, Cherise dodged, swapping place with Judai. During the dodge, she used her free hand to extend the fire from her sword and aimed it directly at the water in her opponents sword.

The same effect happened when she cleared the water in her sword, except now the magic was endless and Judai could only stand to watch as the entire house turned into a steam field.

He stood in anticipation, waiting for Cherise to make her move in the foggy steam, he being unable to see most of what was in front of him.

He could just about make out her pointing her sword behind her and aiming it again, through the doors.

The outcast magic made it able to fire portals where she wanted, the first behind her and the other over the ocean, about 10 feet up because of a miscalculated shot.

Judai watched as she jumped backward and could just about make out a portal. Once she was through it, the smoke cleared out of the house and Judai could now see the portal in full view.

"Coward!" He spitted as he dived into the portal himself, not knowing the other one was over the ocean.

* * *

Going through the portal, Cherise stopped on the other side and didn't realise she'd shot the portal that high up. Looking behind her though, she could see Judai coming through and jumped straight down, that flash of yellow appearing when she hit the water.

Judai dived through right as Cherise hit the water.

"Judai!" Shou, Johan and Asuka shouted as he dived into the water. The three of them knew that if Judai hit the water, he wouldn't be able to turn into a human until the next morning, causing him to miss the fair.

"Shou, go to my father to get help!" Judai shouted before diving into the water, the flash of red appearing.

The other teens all turned to Shou as if to look for answers.

"So where's Judai's dad live then?" Leo asked.

'Oh, this is not good! I don't want to do this, but at least Asuka and Johan can look after him.' Shou came closer to Leo's face, their faces inches apart as Shou looked directly into his eyes. His own eyes turned black and looked as if they pulsed.

Leo's eyes did the same thing. Shou pulled back as his eyes turned normal. Leo's eyes carried on beating, they were sending an inner painful shock that rendered the subject unconsciousness as Leo closed his eyes and fell straight to the sand, landing on his face.

"Leo!" Asuka and Johan shouted as Shou stepped back.

Asuka leaned down to check on him to find he was unconscious. "What the hell did you do that for?"

"What, did you want him to find out about merpeople or for him to have questions about why I suddenly ran out into the middle of the Ocean and came back an hour later just fine?" Shou made a good point.

"Even if you do go see his father, how are you going to get back, you're sunrise to sundown too aren't you?" Johan asked remembering that Shou was just like Judai.

"I'll ask the king to grant me a one time transformation and one for Judai too. But I'd better go, there's only one thing that can kill the outcast, the King's magic."

With that said, Shou dived off into the ocean to go and see Yoruu, boy was he going to be annoyed by this.

* * *

Back in the ocean, Cherise and Judai had been fighting for a while, no outcome or injuries had occurred yet.

Due to their current location and area, Cherise knew it was too dangerous to fight Judai here, they were only a mile out from being within range of another territory, one that didn't welcome citizens or the outcast, not good!

Looking below her, they were fighting above a trench. Last time she checked, no-one owned that area, perfect for their fight. She began swimming down towards it, much to the disappointment of Judai.

"Grr, come back here and fight me fairly already!" He shouted as he swam after her. Most of the time, Cherise had been dodging and using her magic as best as she could to make the area too steamy to fight in or to scald Judai, causing him to stop fighting for a few seconds. She never retaliated back though.

* * *

Shou had felt like he'd been swimming for a good 20 minutes, a good sign for him that the city was just a little further way ahead.

Passing over a massive rock, he looked out to see Arca, the ancient city of Merpeople from an old legend, which was obviously true but many believed it wasn't real.

Swimming up to golden coral gates, he looked to see who was on duty.

Atop the left tower, sat a lazy, short brown haired, kinda monkey like face merman.

"Oy, Saru!" Shou called as he rudely awoke the sleeping guard.

"Man, who just disturbs me in the middle of a beautiful nap?" he said annoyed as he looked out from the tower to see a familiar face.

"Shou? What are you doing back here? Word was that you weren't suppose to return except for one-time progress next week."

"Well, we've got a little situation on our hands. Kumori Cherise of the outcast turned up on the front door saying she had words from my King, and of course Judai doesn't believe anything she ever says and now their somewhere off having a death fight and-"

"You want me to let you in to see the King and to stop them and to give you one time transformation?" Saru smirked.

Shou frowned, "I forget how good a body reader you are."

"Hehe," Saru laughed. Oh how he enjoyed teasing Shou like that. "Alright, come on in."

Saru opened the gates and man did Shou speed through them, calling to him saying thank you as he set his sights straight for the palace.

Coming within the site to the palace, another guard floated by the door, staring suspiciously at the speed merman coming toward him.

The guard couldn't make out who it was until the figure got a little bit more into his sight range.

Holding out the free right hand, Shou's head ran straight into the hand and abruptly stopped him.

Shou recovered and looked at the guard. "What are you doing back here Shou?"

"Misawa-kun," Shou said slowly as he looked at the guard, black hair that was pushed back and sloped to the left and the yellow tail that matched the uniform colour, most like Shou's only tail, if not a little golder in tone. "Since when did you become a guard here?"

Misawa Daichi, also from Ra Yellow at Duel Academia. Shou and Daichi had known each other since they starting working at the palace. Daichi pleaded to the King to see more of the world above after proving himself worthy and was granted the same sort of transformation power as the King and Queen themselves, they could transform whenever they wanted to. Daichi had usually been a main servant to the King and Queen personally but was promoted to Guard when Judai and Shou left as Yoruu felt that Daichi deserved a better job, after all, Shou was a more than fine servant to Yoruu's son and to them personally as well.

"After you left, the King promoted me. But even so, that doesn't answer my question, what are you doing back here?" Daichi asked.

Shou then explained the situation once again and Daichi sighed. "I guess Judai's father was right, you would come swimming here when she arrived."

"Is there something wrong?" Shou asked confused.

"You've got it all wrong my friend, come with me." Daichi opened the doors and lead Shou down the hallways until he reached the King's Throne Room.

Daichi swam forward and bowed to his King. "My King, he's arrived."

"Thank you Daichi, send him in." Yoruu replied with his own little head bow.

As Daichi passed Shou, he put a hand on his shoulder quickly and said, "you'll understand in a minute."

Shou swam forward towards the King and also bowed. "My King, the reason I came back now is because of a situation that arose about half an hour ago concerning your son, My Prince and the out-casted Kumori Cherise. They've gotten into a fight and..."

"You want me to stop them fighting and grant you one time transformations so you don't have to wait till tomorrow?"

Shou frowned again, "why is it that everyone here can read bodies so well?"

"We can't, this is just a more obvious situation and you are a very readable person, sorry." The king smiled at the end to show he really meant sorry to his servant.

"I'm sorry my king, but, would you be able to do it for us?" Shou bowed.

"I'm afraid that won't be necessary Shou," the king stated.

Shou looked up from his state of bowing in confusion. "Huh? Not necessary? Why?"

"Cherise came to the palace yesterday, sneaking her way in to speak to me. She'd managed to distract the guards and everyone at the gates to the palace with her magic and cast a portal into this room. She came through though bearing no arms, obeying white eyes, pure with no intention of harming me, only wishing to speak. You see, Manjoume Jun is more intent on getting revenge now that Judai is in the human world. Jun had the upper advantage, not transforming when he hits water. She knows he's planning to attack him soon and wanted to use herself as a messenger to Judai. You'd think of course this would be dangerous as Judai would just go nuts and try to kill her like he is now. I cast a spell on her that will save her from one attack from Judai's poison, my loyal sealing. Once Judai sees he can't hurt her, he'll stop and will receive my message, also clearing his killing state and he'll be unable to invoke it again. But, just in-case the seal fails, it's a 50/50 chance, I'll put a seal on you. This one will definately work, it's only the outcast or humans who stand a 50/50 chance."

Shou quickly took in all the information, realising their was a chance Cherise could die at the hands of Judai, if the seal fails. "So you're telling me you want to place a seal on me and then have me find Judai in the hopes the seal will break on me and he'll get the message?"

"That's exactly what I want you to do," the King replied as he prepared a seal.

Shou floated still in the middle of the room eyes closed. Yoruu's left eye turned white whereas the right one turned black. Holding his two hands out to Shou, a golden aura surounded him as a black crown, similar the one of Judai's head, appeared across Shou as a sign of the seal. Should it be hit by a weapon or magic, the seal will break and stop the killing state of the attacker.

Once the aura faded, the Queen, Mei, held her left hand out and created a portal similar to the ones Cherise made. "Go through it, it will take you about a mile out from the battle field where they are fighting."

"Thank you my Queen," Shou replied bowing. He looked to the King and bowed again. "I shall be on my way, my King. I'll return next week to tell you how progress is going in the human world."

Doing one last bow in respect, Shou swam out through the portal.

Arriving on the other side, he could just make out in the distance, Judai and Cherise fighting.

Judai was swinging his sword around like mad trying to hit her whilst sending poison through the many portals she created around them in the hope of hitting her.

This of course means Cherise was dodging like mad around the portals to escape all of Judai's attacks.

What she didn't realise, was that the poison was slowly making it's way through all the portals and Judai had finally found her. She was so distracted by it, she didn't see Judai use his water sword to catch her to stop her going through the next portal. Looking down, a water claw had her held at the fins.

Judai dragged her straight in front of her, about 7 feet away in reality.

"Any last words before you die?" Judai asked in a dark tone holding his sword out to her.

Cherise looked directly at him, answering, "no. There is nothing more I can do to convince you."

"So be it," he pronounced as he lunged forward, driving the tip of his sword, a little way into her body.

"AHHHHHHHH!" Cherise screamed in pain not only at the sword driving into her, but also at the poison entering her system.

As Judai pulled back, he smirked maliciously and licked his lip in happiness. "That poison will take about an hour to enter your system fully, but, that's not enough for me." He licked his lip once more, pulling back, preparing the final strike to kill her.

He took a massive lunge forward,

"Judai, please, STOP!" Shou screamed as he swam straight into the line of Judai's attack.

Judai didn't even notice Shou until the symbol of his dad's crown deflected the attack and rendered Judai unable to move, surrounding him in a white aura.

Judai looked around only seeing white, his eyes also returned to their normal brown state.

He looked around to see his dad.

"Father?" Judai asked confused.

Yoruu just giggled. "My my, you are trouble some times aren't you."

"What's going on here?" He asked.

"I can't believe you went into your killing state that easily. For once, the outcast wasn't lying, she came to me to be a messenger for what's going on with the outcast. Jun is plotting revenge on me for banishing him, but using you as the target instead.

"What? Cherise was only trying to help? It's a little late now, the poisons going through her system like mad, she won't make it, she's only got one hour!"

"Listen, you must find a way for her to live, we need her as our messenger, we'll have an advantage over the outcast then. Take her back to shore, you'll find help there but it won't be easy." Yoruu explained before slowly fading away leaving Judai back in the fight area.

"Judai!" Shou cried in relief at seeing his friend back to normal.

"Shou, what happened?" The last thing I remember was Cherise showing up and me going into a killing state..." It hit him that Cherise had poison in her system as he looked into the distance at the girl floating their, grimacing from the pain of the poison.

Swimming up to her, Judai's eyes softened to yellow in sadness. "I'm so sorry Cherise, I never meant for you to get hurt I-"

"Just hurry up and save me! There will be times for apologies later!" Cherise said cutting him short.

"Shou, is there anyone on the surface you know who deals in poison?" Judai asked turning to the younger merman.

"Well, Asuka told me her older brother is a marine biologist/ scientist, he might be able to help with the poison." Asuka told Shou about Fubuki and made sure to mention never to tell him what you are.

"Are you nuts? If he's a marine biologist, he'll take her as research, we can't re-transform her. And what about us?" Judai nearly screamed.

"I got a one time transformation from the King. But we don't have much choice in the matter, we'll just have to trust that Asuka's brother won't sell her or rat out us."

Judai frowned. It was the only way to save her and she was the only one in the outcast who could co-operate with them. "Seems we don't have a choice then, come one!"

Shou headed straight for the surface, the red tailed merman following in pursuit, carrying the poisoned mermaid in his arms.

Breaking the surface, they were only 90 or so feet away from where Shou had left to come into the water earlier. They could see Asuka and Johan still standing their on the shore. They'd taken Leo back to his own house, lying him on the couch and then came back to wait for their friends.

"Is that?" Asuka asked as she could see the top of Shou's bright teal hair over the sea.

"Yeah, it's them." Johan replied waving to the three in the distance.

Shou and Judai swam with Cherise in arms, the poison working quickly as it had already taken her to stage 2, unconsciousness. Stage 3 was poison to the heart, and Stage 4 quickly followed, death.

Upon reaching the shore, the mermen quickly explained the whole situation to their human friends and let Johan take Cherise into his arms.

"Are you sure it's wise to take her to Fubuki, how do you know we won't sell them out." Johan asked Asuka.

"I'll make a promise with him, I'll submit to going to Australia. It'll be fine, because by the time we leave, we'll have gotten our wishes and I can wish for myself not to go." Asuka explained, it would all work out, she would just make it seem like she meant it. Going to Aussie meant loads to Fubuki and getting his little sister to agree with it, should be more than enough of a fair payment to keep merpeople a secret to his fellow scientists.

Judai and Shou had already dragged themselves onto the shore and used their one time transformations to take them back to human form.

Standing up, Judai asked, "if we're ready, then we should hurry!"

* * *

-20 minutes later-

All 5 of them were now standing at the steps to Fubuki's home, Asuka standing at the front, Judai and Shou behind her just hiding Johan and Cherise who were behind them.

Ringing the doorbell, a brown haired man about age 25 opened the door wearing a white lab coat and a black one piece.

"Asuka, thought you'd never come home. You've spent the last week or so at Johan's. I know you don't want to leave but this is going a little too far sis."

"Listen, Fubuki, we've got a situation only you can handle, but we need to make a promise," Asuka announced seriously.

"What's going on then?" Fubuki asked in worry. Whenever his sis was serious, something usually was really bad.

"We have someone with us who needs your help but we need you to promise never to tell anyone what you're about to see. I'll tell you afterwards my side of the promise."

Fubuki thought it over for a minute.

"Whatever it is, I'm sure we can come to some sort of agreement on however bad this secret is." Fubuki smiled lightly.

Asuka smiled standing to the side to reveal Judai and Shou behind her. Both of them stepped to the side revealing the person in Johan's arms that would change everything Fubuki ever knew about.

All Fubuki could hear in his mind was 'mermaid' as he stared at the yellow tailed woman lying unconscious in Johan's arms.

He put his hands to his mouth, his face growing bright red as he looked over every aspect of the woman. This wasn't fake, this mermaid, was real.

"I do not believe this! Mermaids are real..." His voiced trailed off at the end, still unable to comprehend that the myths of the sea were real.

"Yes, I know it comes as a shock to you too. But you can't tell anyone about this. No one in the marine or scientific communities can know she's real." Asuka pleased as she held her brothers hands.

"You'd better have a good deal on your end of the bargain for me not to tell anyone about her." Fubuki knew he really wanted to sell her out, he'd shoot right up the ladder in those communities at the one to prove they were real. Asuka really had better have a good way of stopping him now.

Asuka's eyes softened and so did her voice, saddening it a bit as well, looking down. "I'll, I won't deny going to Australia with you. I'll pack without trouble and I won't rebel against the idea any more."

Fubuki's eyes widened as his sisters words. "You promise. Truly promise?"

Asuka looked him right in the eyes. "I promise."

"Um look," Judai cut in. "As much of a lovely scene as this is, Cherise is kinda dying here!"

"What exactly's wrong with her?" Fubuki asked as he ushered everyone inside his house.

"Some things happened and she currently had poison running through her system." Shou explained.

"Poison?" Fubuki asked shocked. "If you don't mind then, I'll need you all to wait in the lounge whilst I treat her."

"Hang on," Asuka spoke up. "I want to watch you do it, just to make sure you don't take any samples of her."

Fubuki looked at her, coming up with the perfect counter argument "You can watch, if you promise to stay here for the rest of the afternoon packing your stuff. Stay true to your promise and I'll stay true to mine." He smiled at the end, he knew he'd won this one.

Asuka looked at him evilly, wishing she'd never made that promise now. "Fine!"

She and Fubuki now carrying Cherise headed off to his lab to treat her whilst Johan and the other two mermen stayed behind in the lounge to wait. Judai told Shou and Johan what he could remember and Shou explained about the position they were now in.

* * *

-About half and hour later-

"Now we just wait for her to wake up, give her a minute for antidote to drain through." Fubuki explained to his younger sister.

He was right. He'd treated her with a special poison clearing antidote after taking some time to work out which ingredients would flush out the poison. Judai's poison wasn't the easiest to clear, but with his own exstensive knowledge in science, he'd managed to work it out. He created a flushing liquid that would clear out the poison from a tube he'd stuck into one of the veins running to her heart where the poison was gathering, it would flush straight out into the vein, through the tube, and into the tub on the other end.

After a minute or so, she slowly stirred waking up to find herself in a not so goof position.

"Who the hell are you?!" Cherise screamed at the man before her, here eyes turning blood red in anger.

"Shhh," Fubuki silenced. "It's okay, I'm Asuka's brother, Fubuki. We've just cleared the poison out of your system and you should be just fine now.

She pushed herself up to find she was still in her mermaid form. She looked to Asuka with scared eyes.

"I'm made a promise with him, he won't tell anyone about you." Asuka assured her.

"Thank you Asuka." She turned her hair to the brother. "Fubuki."

"It's okay. It's not like you get to save the life of a mermaid every day now is it?" Fubuki joked.

"I guess so." Cherise then waved her hand over her tail as it seamlessly turned back into her legs, the Ra Yellow uniform appearing too.

Fubuki's eyes widened a little. He turned to Asuka, "you never told me they could do that too."

"Well she can at least, the other's can't." (A/N: Uh oh!)

"Others?" Fubuki asked. There were others.

"Huh?" Asuka replied, only then just realising what she said. "Okay, yes, there are others. I'm not saying who they are though."

Fubuki smiled. "It's those other two, Judai and Shou, they're mermen aren't they."

Asuka knew the game was up. She knew her brother was smart enough to work out where the two new boys in town came from. "Yes, they're mermen, okay, just stick to the promise please?"

"Fine, but you really should have told me Asuka." Fubuki was a little disappointed that she didn't trust him enough to tell him their were others amongst them.

"I guess I should say thanks. I know how much it means to you not being able to tell anyone about them." Asuka gave her brother a hug.

"So who else knows?" Fubuki asked jokingly in the hug.

Asuka huffed, "only Jounochi, he knew ago that Judai and Cherise were merpeople, even since Johan's parents died."

"I see." Fubuki replied breaking the hug.

Back in the lounge, everyone was happy to see that Cherise was okay.

Judai stepped forward to her. "I guess I should say I'm sorry for poisoning you to start with. I shouldn't of let my anger take control of me so easily. I'm just glad you're okay."

Cherise just smiled. "It's okay, at least Fubuki saved me. But I really must be going, now you know what's going on, I need to return before Jun gets suspicious of me."

"Manjoume Jun?" Fubuki asked. "Is he a merman too? God how many of you are there?"

"Not too many, but you should probably know that Misawa Daichi is a merman as well," Cherise explained,

This came as a shock to Asuka, Fubuki and Johan. "You never told us Daichi was like you as well," Asuka said.

"Well, in our defence, we didn't know if you knew him or not," Shou argued.

"Carrying on though, I really need to get back." Cherise headed out the door, turning around at the last minute calling, "thank you for all the help!" and then carried on to run to the ocean.

Everyone else just smiled, Johan looking at the clock on the wall. "Hey, does anyone else remember that the fair's on in one hour?"

All of them turned to the clock as well, seeing it was 3:00pm.

Judai, Shou and Johan all began running out the door, Asuka following in pursuit calling to her brother, "thanks for everything Fubuki. I know that I promised but just let me help these two get ready for the fair!"

Once they were all gone, Fubuki closed the door and sat down, running his sisters words through his head.

He sighed. "That sister of mine."

* * *

**Nexus: My god, sorry about all that! This was all nowhere intended at all. But I needed to set up a connection between Cherise and Fubuki and this was the best way to show it. Plus I needed to display Judai using pure hatred before the fair and so that's how this chapter was divised. **

**Shou: So let me get this right. No one is suppose to know about us yet Asuka, Johan, Jounochi and now Fubuki know we're merpeople and Daichi is one of us too?**

**Nexus: I need Daichi later on so I needed to introduce him, again, this chapter does this. **

**Sorry for all who were expecting the fair. This chapter wasn't even here and I think in the end, this chapter had 3 variations but this one was the most reasonable with the story line. Next chapter will be the fair, that chapter might drag on too, there's gonna be another fight scene too.**

**Jun: Hey, where was I this chapter?**

**Nexus: Not needed, you will be next chapter though.**

**Everyone: See you all for chapter 6 sometime!**


	7. Chapter 6: Domino Annual Fair

**Nexus: I'm really getting into writing this story now, now that my brain has finally pieced it al together.**

**Judai: Sadly, this means for all the fans of the Mermaid Melody story, we've put it on hold until we finish this story. Nexus' brain just can't get anything for chapter 11!**

**Nexus: I feel bad but it does mean that the fans of this story are in luck.**

**Jun: Hey, am I at least going to appear in this chapter, you kinda forgot about me didn't you?**

**Nexus: I didn't, this chapter does contain more of you now, you're coming out of your shell and really getting involved in the story now.**

**Jun: Thank you! Don't forget, Nexus doesn't own any characters from the Yu-Gi-Oh franchise or the film Aquamarine.**

**Cherise: And we would all like you to remember that she does own all her OC's and the idea(s) for this story.**

**Everyone: Enjoy chapter 6!**

**Nexus: This time, it really is the Annual Fair!**

* * *

Chapter 6: Domino Annual Fair, Jun makes his move

**- Last time -**

**Everyone else just smiled, Johan looking at the clock on the wall. "Hey, does anyone else remember that the fair's on in one hour?"**

**All of them turned to the clock as well, seeing it was 3:00pm.**

**Judai, Shou and Johan all began running out the door, Asuka following in pursuit calling to her brother, "thanks for everything Fubuki. I know that I promised but just let me help these two get ready for the fair!"**

**Once they were all gone, Fubuki closed the door and sat down, running his sisters words through his head.**

**He sighed. "That sister of mine."**

Back at Johan's house, the four friends sat down waiting for Judai and Shou's dates to arrive.

Within the hour, they'd made it back home, Asuka and Johan had showers, Judai swapped the vest for a red short sleeved shirt and changed his shoes to a simple black pair of trainers instead. Shou wore what he still had on, but Asuka had been kind enough to find an old white jacket in her wardrobe before leaving that was just about the right size for Shou.

Sitting silently on the couches, the four friends reflected over their current day.

"So, so far today we've had Judai nearly kill someone, Fubuki's found out about merpeople and we now know that Misawa is one of them too, what a productive day we're having," Johan announced sarcastically.

"It's not all that bad," Judai replied.

"Not all that bad, you still nearly killed someone, you..."

Before Johan could carry on, the doorbell rung with that annoyingly loud ding sound.

"I'll get it," Judai shouted practically leaping of the couch and rushing to the door to open it.

Opening the door, he saw the one person he really needed to see right now, "Ryo!"

"I'm not late am I?" He asked, worried that he'd been late in getting ready.

"You're about on time actually," Judai replied smiling.

"Good." Ryo then leaned down slightly and gave Judai a massive hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "I know you're ready to go to the fair, but do you mind if we quickly visit the docks first, I need to talk to you about something."

Judai had a good idea what it was about. *_I know it's really about me, the real me, who you think is my brother_* "My brother isn't it?"

Ryo's face turned a little sad when he hear the word brother. "Yeah, about 'him.' You don't mind do you, it's just something I need to get off my chest."

Judai smiled, "it's fine, let's go."

He took Ryo's hand and called to his friends, "I'll see you all later!"

"Bye," the three of them responded as he closed the door behind him and walked off with Ryo to the docks.

The now three friends waited in silence for another half an hour before another ring of the doorbell went. Shou got up to answer it.

"Leo." At the door was a panting Leo.

"Sorry I'm so late, I don't know what happened earlier with all the magic and stuff but I think I passed out and some point and that's why I late. Again, so sorry."

Shou looked at him with an 'I'm sorry' face before taking his hand and saying, "are we going then?"

Leo took a minute to correct himself before answering, "Yes," and heading off out the door with Leo.

Now it was just Asuka and Johan left.

"Asuka?"

"Yeah?"

"Maybe we should follow them, you know just in case?"

"You want to spy on their dates?" Asuka asked harshly.

"I mean, what if something happens and they forget about sunset. No-ones not going to notice two boys suddenly growing tails in the middle of a fair if they forget are they?" *_It's not just that, I haven't had time to spend with you privately.*_

"Fine, but I'm only going for your sake of keeping an eye on them! I should really be back with Fubuki, but he'll forgive me after tomorrow hopefully." *_I actually want to go with you Johan, you know I really like you, why did you have to be gay?*_

With that said, Asuka and Johan decided to leave after another half an hour and keep an eye on the two couples at the fair.

* * *

**- at the docks -**

Judai and Ryo had been sitting in silence for a while before bringing up what he really wanted to talk about.

"Judai, did your brother ever tell you about me, or how he came to know me?"

_*'sigh' here comes the fun part, getting to make up stuff and sound interested even though everything I'm about to say is lies!*_

"No, I've barely seen him at all. I think we spoke on 5 occasion, but he never mentioned you." Judai lied.

"I think it's time you know the relationship between me and your brother. When I was young, I saw him one night whilst sitting on these very docks by the lighthouse. I couldn't believe my eyes when I first saw him, a real merman. An actual real myth of the sea. I kinda nearly drowned and he saved me. We talked for a while, but of course he wouldn't tell me his real name. I nicknamed him Jaden which is why when I first saw you, I called you that. He doesn't know my name, so he calls me by Zane, which was why I was even more confused at first. I'm worried though. 2 weeks ago, before he left suddenly, he left me this..." Ryo then pulled out from under his shirt, the duel monsters card with Judai's drawing of Ryo in it.

"Whoa, he drew that?" Judai said trying to sound surprised.

"Yeah, he was a really good drawer for his age. He kept the necklace with him at all times but those 2 weeks ago, I can't help but think it was a sign that I was never going to see him again. I should have seen him by now, we agreed to meet up more often, but most nights when I've sat here waiting, he's never showed up. I have a feeling someone knew he was seeing me and didn't want him going to the surface."

"Sounds harsh. I feel bad because I've barely seen him at all. But what does all of this have to do with me?"

"Because I get the feeling I'll never see him again, I'm letting him go and moving on with my life. I've decided I shouldn't spend it chasing after someone who I barely see and in my case, it would be impossible for the two of us to even be together. I'm letting him go, so I can let you in. I love you, Judai."

Judai's cheeks flushed bright red. "Really?" _*I guess there is something about being human that appeals more to him. He's letting go them merman side of me. In a sense, this works in my favour. But this isn't who I really am. I guess it's okay for him to let go of half of me, he can concentrate on the me that's here_ now.*

"Really," Ryo replied in that husky tone again before giving Judai a kiss on the forehead. "Thanks for hearing me out on all of this, I really needed to get it off my chest."

"It's okay, we should probably get going to the fair now right? We don't wanna miss anything."

"Alright," Ryo replied standing up and helping Judai to his feet.

Walking away from the docks, a figure surfaced from beneath the water, having just listened to the whole conversation.

"Hehe, that shrimp is still managing to keep his secret under-wraps! I'l give him credit for it so far, but Ryo is going to have fun when he finds out who he really is," the figure said to himself as he watched the two walk off into town for the fair.

The figure then dragged himself onto the shore, after looking to see that no-one else was around , and transformed his onyx tail into legs. When he stood up, a black cloak with a hood surrounded him. It was clear from the knees down though that he was wearing black jeans and some long black boots.

* * *

Back at the fair, all 3 couples were having very different times.

**- with Shou and Leo -**

"Hey, let's play that next!" Shou asked as he pointed to a stall in the distance. It was one of those ones where you have to shoot a ball into the basket 3 times to win a major prize, 1 shot for a minor prize.

"Okay," Leo replied smiling and walked over there with Shou. Leo was already having enough trouble walking around with all the prizes Shou had amassed from all the other games. He'd been successful at hooking a duck, he was very careful with that, the horse racing game, hitting the clowns over, throwing three balls into a bucket, throwing rings around glass bottles, Shou seemed to be a master at these games and Leo was finding it hard to carry any more prizes around.

_*Just please don't tell me he's good at this one too!*_

As Shou walked up to the stall, the man asked, "you wanna take a shot kid? It'll be 3 shots for 100 yen please?"

Shou handed him the money and the man released three balls for him to shoot.

Whilst Shou studied the shot, the man at the stall looked at all the prizes in Leo's arms.

"Did the kid win all those?" he asked.

Leo looked at him and just nodded, "he hasn't lost yet."

_*He'll need some seriously good skills to even get one shot!*_ The man thought.

Shou prepared his first shot, aimed and fired. And with his luck, it went straight in.

"Whoa," the man announced amazed as he made the shot. "I can see all the prizes back up how good you are. I'll raise you kid. Make the other 2 shots like that and you can take 2 prizes!"

"2 prizes?" Shou's eyes lit up like fire. "IT'S ON!"

_*For the love of my aching arms please say he misses one!* _Leo pleaded in his head.

Shou was about to make the next shot before thinking of something even better.

"Tell you what man, if I can make these next 2 shots at the same time using one hand, aiming the right hand ball at the left basket and the left hand ball at the right basket, I win 3 prizes!

_*Shou! Are you fucking mad! There's no way you can do that!* _Leo's mind screamed.

"Heh, if you're going to make those bets, it's all or nothing." The man smirked.

"It's fine, I'll take you up on that!"

Shou took one ball into each hand and crossed his arms over so they would fire crossed, one would be aimed slightly higher than the other so there wouldn't be a collision.

He closed his eyes and prepared to make the shots, calculating what he would need to do.

He opened his eyes quickly and fired both shots, not realised that a crowd had gathered, recording him after overhearing the conversation about raising the prizes.

The 2 shots played like slow motion. It seemed like ages before the balls reached the baskets. To everyone's amazement, both balls went into the baskets at pretty much the same time.

Shou looked at the balls going in and shouted, "ALRIGHT!" raising his fists to the sky.

Leo just dropped all the toys he was holding and amassed the same position the stall vendor did, mouth wide open, body slouched and arms dangling by the side. The whole croud behind Leo just burst out into joy and amazement that the kid had actually done it.

The man shook himself out of his amazement and began clapping as well. "Well kid, a promise is a promise, which 3 do ya want?"

Shou looked over all the big prizes. All of them were massive 1 ft plushies of Sonic Characters. Shou pointed to the three he wanted, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles even though he had no idea which ones were which or what they were. The man handed them down to Shou as he huddled them in his arms.

Leo picked up all the toys he'd dropped and made a suggestion. "We should probably drop all these toys back at Ryo's house quickly, it's not far from here and then we can come and play some more, yeah?"

Shou looked at just how many toys he'd gotten and realised it really was a good idea! "Let's go then."

As they walked towards the crowd, they split to the side to let them through, still shouting and cheering at them.

"Well done kid!"

"You're amazing!"

"You have to teach me how to do that!"

Shou just smiled and waved at everyone who was cheering in the crowd as they headed back to Ryo's house to drop them off.

**- with Judai and Ryo -**

Compared to the luck Shou was having, it was nothing compared to Judai's. It was already 7 and they'd had to make 2 trips back to the house already because of a prize overload. Shou kept his prizes downstairs in the lounge and Judai's prizes stayed in Ryo's bedroom. The couple were now just walking around looking at everything, talking about different topics.

**- with Johan and Asuka -**

"We should really stop tracking them now, it's been 2 and a half hours and nothings gone wrong so far has it?" Asuka pointed out to Johan.

Johan had been following Shou and Leo around, being very careful. He was actually in the crowd that split to the side from when Shou took those 3 shots at the basketball game. He too was recording but was also hiding in the crowd as a good camouflage.

Asuka had therefore been following Judai and Ryo and was really shocked by just how lucky Judai was. Of course, she got bored after the second time they visited and caught back up with Johan since Shou left to drop his prizes off.

"Okay, we'll go back home, but if anything happens to them, you're the one to blame!" Johan said sternly.

"I guess I'd better get back to Fubuki's then, I promised I'd pack for the night."

"Okay, I'll miss you whilst you're gone." Johan blurted out.

"I'll miss you too," Asuka replied with a little blush forming.

Both quickly turned away from each other.

_*What's wrong with me?*_ They both thought

Johan quickly turned back to Asuka to tell her something important._  
_

"I love you, Asuka."

Asuka blushed about 10 shades of red in a very short time. "Johan, you're gay, you can't love me!"

"That's just it, I don't think I'm gay. I think it was just the beauty of Ryo that shrouded me. And back at Duel Academy, I'd only ever really talked to guys, I'd never been around girls so much before I met you."

Asuka's brain thought about it. If Johan had never spent time around girls, then he'd never really known what girls were like until he'd met her. Plus Ryo can make pretty much make anyone, no matter what gender, fall for him, even though most of the girls knew he'd had a certain liking towards men.

"Maybe, I love you back." She blushed before quickly kissing Johan on the cheek and walking away swiftly back to Fubuki's house.

Johan just sat there in shock. He'd finally come to realise something, he wasn't actually gay. Spending so much time with Asuka had cleared him of this vision that he was. The only man he'd even fallen for was Ryo and to fall in love with him was not a shock. And because he'd only ever spent his time with guys, he never really got to know what girls were like until he'd been hanging out with Asuka so much over the summers. In his heart, he knew he'd truly fallen for Asuka in the end. And the best part was, she loved him back!

He thought about all of this whilst walking back to his own home.

**- Back with Ryo and Judai again** -

The two of them were still walking around the maze of stalls, just enjoying the moment with the time they had together. It was now 7:30 and Judai had no idea that 8 pm was drawing so close.

The man in the black cloak earlier had been waiting to make his move on Judai, hiding just around the corner from them which was currently vacated, there was just him. _*This should be one interesting night, I've got half an hour to take this kid out!*_ The figure thought as he stood behind a stall which was also vacated.

As Ryo and Judai walked around the corner, the cloaked figure called out, "Oi, Judai," as he walked out from behind his hiding place.

"Who are you?" Judai asked taking a defensive stance.

"I'm surprised you don't remember me shrimp," the figure said as he whipped off the hood of his cloak, revealing who he was.

"Manjoune Jun?!" Both Ryo and Judai said.

"You know him too?" Ryo asked quickly.

"Hmm, Jaden told me about him once." Judai lied.

"Jaden?" Jun said plainly before he burst out laughing. "I can't believe you're still going by that name shrimp."

"What you do mean?" Judai lied once more, trying to sound as confused as possible for Ryo's sake.

"Listen Ryo, I have no idea how many lies this kid has told you, but he's not who you think he is," Jun began. "What's the whole story then?"

"From what I've seen and been told, Judai and Jaden are both brother, their mother being a mermaid but Judai isn't like his mother or his brother. I first mistook Judai for Jaden but Jaden is a merman, I've never seen him before as a human."

"It never occurred to you that he might be able to do the same transformation as me?"

"No, because I talked to Jounochi about you and I know that only you and Cherise can transform whenever they want. Jaden comes under the sunrise to sunset category, and he would have called me Zane when he first saw me!" Ryo countered.

"Heh, not bad, but it's still not enough. Let me tell you now Ryo, this kid before you is still not who you think he is. His name is Judai, that's correct, but he'd Prince Yuki Judai, Son of Yuki Yoruu and Yuki Mei, Prince of merpeople and next in line to the throne for Arca! In other words, this is Jaden, you're Jaden."

This threw Ryo into a world of confusion.

Nothing made sense.

If this was really Jaden and his name really was Judai... but that couldn't be right, Jaden couldn't have gotten here in the first place, during those 2 weeks when they promised to meet up more, Jaden stopped showing up, his suspicion of someone finding out he'd been seeing him and confining him to the sea was becoming more and more of a true fact almost. Still, nothing added up, except for Judai's words of their mother being a mermaid and certain genes being passed down. If merpeople's genes worked like a humans, then some would have made it through and some wouldn't of.

"Jun, I don't know what kind of game you're playing here, but you're really mistaking me for my brother here," Judai lied once more, trying to sound as honest as possible.

Jun gritted his teeth. "Stop screwing around with me Judai!"

A sudden black glow surrounded Jun as his clothing disappeared to leave just his black jeans on. A crown similar to Cherise's from earlier adorned his head as well as long red chain, his coming to his knees thought.

Holding out his right hand in front of him, water from the nearby hook a duck game shot into his hand and began forming into a weapon. His weapon though, was truly amazing. It was like someone had take a normal sword and filled it with arrows. From the centre of the sword, 7 arrows lined up sideways poking out of the sword, no draw back required, just magic. The strange thing is, the sword still acted as a sword, it was just a little shorter coming to about 3 and a half foot in length. Where the handle was, a dark green band surrounded it to suggest earth magic. The ability to fire arrows underground or move under the ground in the same way that Cherise used her portals. Most of the outcasts fighting style and magic relied on teleporting in some sort of way.

"If you don't want Ryo to know any more than what's been said here so far, FIGHT ME!"

Judai went over his two choices, get Ryo and himself out of here but have Jun nearly kill them. Or, get Ryo out of here and fight Jun. Fighting Jun seemed like the better option at the moment.

"Judai, what the hell is going on here?" Ryo asked confused still.

"Just get out of here," Judai begged, "if you stay around for too long, you'll get hurt.

"But-"

"Just go!" Judai screamed, both this eyes turning pure white as he shocked Ryo into leaving the area.

Without a second thought, Ryo began running out of the place.

"Oh no you don't," Jun said slyly, shooting an arrow in his direction. Lucky for Ryo, Judai had already transformed, sword and all. What had stopped the arrow was Judai quickly creating a water wall that blocked the attack.

Judai's eyes quickly turned black and red once more.

Jun smirked as his eyes faded into those colours as well.

They circled each other for about a minute before stopping, raising their swords and calling "Fight!"

Before Judai could even make a move, Jun began to run away from stall where they were, down the long isolated isle.

Judai being Judai ran straight after him, sword in his left hand, water at the ready in his right hand. Element wise, water had a nice power over earth, so Judai had the upper advantage in this fight already.

Chasing Jun down the isle though, he didn't realise how fast they were running until Jun used his magic to hide in the earth whilst Judai could only keep running with the speed he'd amassed. He nearly ran into the wall coming up had he not have used his water sword to create a path for his feet to run on that looped into the air and hovered him above the ground.

He waited for Jun to re-appear but only a flurry of Arrows shot out of the ground that broke Judai's concentration on the water path, causing him to fall to the floor, quickly recovering though whilst Jun re-appeared about 8 feet away.

"If you're going to use that, why don't we see whose faster then?" Jun then dissolved his weapon and used his magic to create an earthboard, kinda like a skateboard only it was made out of Jun's magic and he could still teleport underground using it. Once he was on it, he brought his weapon back but this time it was different. It looked so much like Cherise's sword, the inside glowing green with earth though and the same sort of Shadow glowing at the tip, though this couldn't create portals.

"Game on then," Judai replied as he assumed the position of being on that water path again, using his sword as the endless flow that he would travel on.

Jun sped off straight away leaving Judai to chase after him through the endless isles of stalls that were packing away or were vacated because the day was drawing to an end for the fair.

They sped past many stalls before coming to a massive open space area where they could fight. Jun didn't get off his board though.

Judai stepped down off of his and used the remaining path to wrap around Jun's board like a pair of fists, crushing it into pieces, debris following damaging Jun with a nice cut appearing to the left of his nose.

"If you're going to fight here, sword fighting only!" Judai shouted.

Jun gritted his teeth again, "fine by me." _*Not good, I've only got three more minutes to kill him.*_

They circled each other again, before striking, their blades clashing, sparks flying from the friction against the two swords. Both eventually jumped back and tried again. No matter how many moves each one of them made, no one was making a hit.

Jun then shot under the earth and moved about at a fast pace making it hard for Judai to judge when he would appear out of the ground.

The second he could feel Jun jump out of the earth, he jumped with him, using his water sword to create the same kind of claw that caught Cherise earlier on.

Holding him at about the same distance, he said, "that's the only problem with the outcast, as long as you can work out where they will teleport, they get caught off guard more easily with captures."

Jun struggled to break free, but to no avail breaking out of a royal's magic was half impossible.

"Any last words, Jun?" Judai asked maliciously.

"Sunset," was all Jun said before Judai's sword and clothing returned to him, his head pounding like mad. He knew that feeling quite well now, he had about another 3 minutes to find water before he transformed.

This of course means that Jun's state was broken too, his eyes returning to normal as well as his cloak and all his weaponry disappearing with it.

"I'll deal with you personally next time, killing you. Let's just see how long it takes you to find water here thought," Jun announced before hiding under the earth, actually teleporting back to the sea for the night.

Judai was now running around trying to find a source of water. He'd sworn he'd seen a lake just off of the town when he was chasing Jun.

"Judai!" A panting voice called as he turned his head to see,

"Shou, we need to find that lake!"

Shou had come back when Judai and Jun were racing around the park at high speed. Judai hadn't even see Shou call to him as he passed him and Leo earlier. Shou of course told Leo to go home too, having to do the same thing with his eyes, turning them white to make him obey.

"I know which one you mean, I had to use it last year when I cam here." Shou replied.

Time was running short for them. Judai picked up Shou seeing the lake in sight and literally threw him straight into it whilst jumping and shooting himself forward, transforming in mid-air, diving into the lake with a sigh of relief.

They both shot the bottom before discussing things.

"You think they'll come look for us?" Judai asked.

"I'm pretty sure they'll try to find us, they'll be worried about us for one and if Ryo's seen what Jun in capable of, then he'll be on the hunt. I think Leo will want some answers as to what you and Jun were doing chasing each other at speeds as high as you were." Shou replied.

"Nothing else we can do really except wait until sunrise and then make something up again." Judai suggested.

"As tiring as it is to keep on coming up with ridiculous excuses." Shou huffed.

"We can't exactly tell them, it's against the law, my dad would kill me and way too many people know about me right now as it is. Let's just go to sleep and think it over in the morning when we get back to Johan's." Judai then settled down to sleep, laying on his side and curling his tail around him, almost like a cat.

Shou on the other hand laid completely flat on his front, his hands and arms making a pillow for his head.

* * *

"It's 10 and we haven't found anything yet bro!" Leo complained. "For all we know, they could be back at Johan's house by now, we didn't check to see if they were there at all." They'd been walking around the wrecking site that was part of the fair searching for Judai and Shou after they left them.

"I know we didn't, but something just doesn't add up any more."

"What doesn't add up?" Leo asked intruiged.

"I know you know that magic exists but I've never told you the extent of it's existence have I?" Ryo began.

"Cut it short, what do you know that I don't?" Leo asked impatiently.

"Well, you know Manjoume Jun and Cherise Kumori right?"

"That dueling couple, Jun from Obelisk Blue and Cherise from Ra Yellow, what about them?"

"They're not exactly human."

Leo was really intruiged now, "what are they then?"

"Merpeople," Ryo said plainly with a serious look on his face.

Leo let out a short laugh and then said, "seriously what are they?"

He looked at his brother's face and saw how serious he was. "You're not joking are you?"

"No, I never told you the story of how I met one have I?" Ryo asked.

"You've met a mermaid?" Leo asked, his eyes gleaming.

"Not a mermaid, a merman. When I was 12, I took a night down at the docks and spotted a mysterious swimmer. Turned out he was a good honest merman and he ended up saving my life when I fell of the lighthouse dock, I slipped and lost balance. We talked for a while and for the past 6 years, we'd become pretty good friends. But during these last two weeks, I haven't seen him when he said we would meet up, my gut feeling, intuition and knowledge being that he had been banned from seeing me or something. I still don't know what his name is, but he's Judai's brother."

"Judai's brother, but, Judai's human isn't he?" Leo wondered.

"Apparently their mother was a mermaid and certain genes got passed down to them, more to Jaden obviously."

"Jaden?"

"The name I gave the merman. He's pretty much Judai's identical twin fish brother if you want to put it into context."

"So you're telling me that Jun, Cherise and this Jaden are really merpeople, and they exist?" Leo asked.

"Yeah," Ryo replied plainly.

"That is just.. AWESOME! Haha, merpeople do exist!" Leo began jumping around for joy.

Ryo smiled at him before patting him on the head telling him, "calm down, what if someone overheard us?"

Leo the stopped and apologised, "sorry."

"It's okay, maybe we should just go home and worry about them in the morning?" Ryo suggested.

"Can I stay at yours for the night then, I don't feel like walking all the way back to Grandpa's right now." Leo asked practically giving Ryo the puppy dog eyes.

He sighed, "okay, you can stay, but you sleep in the downstairs bedroom and move all of Shou's winnings into their as well."

"Thank you so much bro!" Leo said giving him a quickly brotherly hug before racing back to Ryo's house, Ryo following behind.

* * *

- At Fubuki's -

Asuka was still packing things away, she was 1/5th of the way through packing all of her stuff and was exhausted.

"Asuka!" Fubuki called from the lounge.

Asuka walked out of her room to see what her brother wanted, "yes?"

"Hey, don't sound so harsh, you're the one who agreed to pack without complaint in return for me not revealing their secrets."

"Even so, what do you need?"

"I'm letting you go to Johan's." Fubuki smiled.

"You, you're letting me go to Johan's for the night?" Asuka asked in shock.

"It's kinda obvious you two love each other now from what I saw at the fair sis."

Asuka took a moment to look over that statement. "You, you watched me at the fair?!" She shouted in anger.

"I was only following you because you wouldn't stop following those 2 couples around, why?"

"We were just making sure that nothing bad happened and that they didn't forget to be back by 8 pm." Asuka said plainly.

"Why 8 pm? Is it some kind of mermaid thing?"

Asuka frowned and played with him, "maybe, maybe not."

Fubuki just laughed. "Come on, are you leaving to go see Johan or not?"

Asuka quickly grabbed some clothes, stuffed them into a bag and headed out the door, stopping to say thank you to her brother before closing it behind her.

- Now at Johan's -

*Ding dong*

Johan slowly stirred from his sleep and headed downstairs to see who it was at this time of night.

"Asuka?" Johan asked sleepily as he opened the door. "I thought you were staying at your brother's overnight to carry on packing.

"He let me go to yours for the night, he saw us at the fair and thought it was unfair to keep us split up."

Johan just smiled and gave her a warming hug. Asuka warmed into it as well before looking Johan in the eyes.

"What I said at the fair, about loving you too... I've loved you ever since I met you but because you were gay, I held my feelings back but now, I'm letting them out. I really love you Johan."

Johan just smiled at her words. "I've learnt that deep down, I loved you as well back then, and I still love you now."

Both of them leaned forward slightly, Johan putting a hand to her cheek. He took the chance to lean forward and captured her lips in their first kiss with each other. Both of them just stood still in this position for another minute before needing air and breaking apart. They both look at each other and smiled before giving each other a very warming hug and then heading indoors to go to sleep.

* * *

**- the next morning, at the lake -**

Shou was first to stir from his deep slumber as he felt the suns rays just rising over the water.

He looked at Judai who was truly still sound asleep.

Swimming over to him, he began to rock and shake him, calling, "Judai, wake up."

After another minute of this, Shou saw it was hopeless to wake him up at the moment and just headed to the surface of the lake.

Walking around what still remained of the fair from yesterday was Leo. He'd gotten up early to take a wonder around, just in case something had happened to Shou or Judai.

He eventually came past the lake where he saw a dark shadow coming up from the lake. "What the, no fish live in this lake, so what?"

His train of thought was lost though when a certain blue haired lover broke the surface.

Shou closed his eyes as he broke the surface and stretched, enjoying the suns ray before opening them and gasping in horror.

Standing about 9 feet away from him, was...

"Leo! What are you doing here?" Shou asked, sounding worried.

"I could ask you the same thing! Have you been sleeping in the lake or something?" Leo asked in return.

Shou was about to say something, opening his mouth but closed it two seconds later and lowered his head.

"Listen, I know you said you weren't human and you had magic, but sleeping in a lake?"

"It's not what you think it is." Shou said plainly.

"It isn't, is it? Then why when we went out to the docks that night, and you went in the sea, did you never go back to Johan's?"

Leo's eyes lit up with horror. "How, how did you know I never went back?"

"I went to Johan's house about 11. Even though I woke him up, he told me you never came back. I had suspicions since then about you. I don't care if you do have magic, sleeping in a lake is not natural!" He took a few breaths. "What are you?"

Shou knew by now it was all over, he couldn't leave the lake without Leo finding out what he was. All he could do was go back to Judai and wait until he left, then leave the lake and transform.

Shou took that option and shot under the water.

Leo growled in annoyance and jumped in after Shou.

Shou was a lot faster than Leo and had managed to find a rock to hide behind. It didn't hide much but it would do hopefully.

Leo carried on swimming down, ignoring all of the thoughts of his brain telling him to go back up. He would find Shou.

He eventually got to the bottom of the lake and could just make out Shou's blue hair, the rest of him hiding behind a rock.

_*Found you,*_ Leo thought as he swam over to Shou, making sure he went quietly enough for Shou not to hear him getting closer.

He was right behind the rock now, as he put his had towards Shou's shoulder and tapped him on it.

Shou turned around but it was too late as Leo grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

Nothing could have prepared Leo for the sight he saw.

In front of him, was Shou, with a yellow tail. The only word that rung through Leo'd mind was 'merman'.

Shou could see the look of shock and amazement on his face but also saw that Leo was going a little blue, running out of oxygen.

Whilst he was still holding on, he put his other arm around Leo's waist and took him to the surface.

Leo instantly let go of Shou, coughing like mad, getting all the water out of his lungs and getting in as much oxygen as he could.

Once he'd finished his coughing fit, he turned back to Shou, his mind racing still. "How come you never told me?"

"I couldn't, I told you it was a vow I made when I came here." Shou said sadly as he then shot under the water.

"Shou!" Leo shouted as Shou disappeared, the end of his tail appearing as he went down and disappeared a second later.

Shou resurfaced about 20 feet away from Leo, his head hung low and to one side in shame.

"Shou?" Leo asked in confusion as he tried to swim closer.

"Stay back!" Shou commanded as Leo stopped swimming. "You must think I'm a freak."

Leo took those words in and still carried on swimming towards Shou. When he reached him, he put his hands firmly on the younger boys shoulders.

"Listen to me Shou. I do not think you're a freak! Just because you're a merman, because you have a tail, because you're not human, does not mean I think you're a freak."

Shou lifted his head looking at Leo in shock.

"I told you, just because you're a merman, doesn't mean I don't love you. I love you for who you are Shou, for your personality, not for any of this. Besides, I think it's kinda cool you're not a human, I told you that before as well."

"Leo," Shou said, his voice sounding brighter, his face showing it too. "It still doesn't matter, at any rate, I can't stay human long enough. I always need to be back in the water by sundown, or else I'll end up stranded on land with no legs. It'll never work out."

Shou tried to turn his head again but Leo took one hand firmly on his cheek, turning his head back to him. He also then took the other hand and cupped his face.

"We'll find ways around it! I couldn't care less for all of this, I just want to be with you, I love you and I'd do anything for you."

Before Shou could respond, he leaned his head down and took Shou's lips for his own. Shou felt a passionate hot spark as he and Leo kissed each other like it was the end of the world. Leo licked Shou's bottom lip, asking for entry. Shou obliged happily and let Leo in, letting his tongue take dominance as the two danced around each other. When the two finally needed air, they let go, staring deeply into each others eyes as the panted.

Once they recovered, another dark figure could be seen coming up from the Lake.

Judai broke the surface, shaking his head to get the water off. "Shou, why didn't you wake me up?"

"Sorry." Shou replied.

Judai's eyes then wondered over to Leo. _*Oh this is not good, human!*_

Judai's instinct had him shooting under the water faster than a speeding bullet.

"Judai!" Shou shouted as he swam down.

"Judai?" Leo said said quietly to himself.

"Wait here," Shou said quickly before diving down after him.

"Judai, wait up!" Shou called.

"Shou, what is Leo doing here, he knows about you now doesn't he?" Judai asked, annoyed that Shou had been found out so easily.

"It's not entirely my fault. When I woke up he was there and then I hid the lake but he came after me and grabbed my arm and then he saw me but he says it's all okay and he doesn't care." Shou the pleaded, "we won't tell anyone about this right?"

Judai sighed. "We won't tell anyone back home but I think Asuka and Johan ought to know that he knows now."

"Fine, but we need to get out of the lake anyway, those two ought to know what happened yesterday as well."

With that said, Shou and Judai joined Leo again.

Leo was looking intensely at Judai, making him flinch.

"You, you're Jaden?" Leo asked.

Judai looked confused for a minute before remembering. "How do you know about me?"

"Ryo told me about you last night. But, something's not right here..." Leo dragged as he then turned to Shou.

"You called him Judai." He stated.

Shou and Judai both gasped as they realised the cat was out of the bag now for Judai.

"I think maybe it's time you should know the truth, Leo." Judai began.

"How do you know my name, if you are Jaden, it's possible Ryo made have told you about me though..."

"Listen Leo, there's something really important you should know," Judai said, turning to Shou as he nodded his head, agreeing with Judai. "Jaden, doesn't exist."

"What?"

"Jaden, is me. There never was a Jaden, just Yuki Judai. The name Jaden is the name Ryo gave to me because I couldn't tell him my real name by my law. He thinks that Jaden and Judai are twins. One's a merman, one's a human. That's not the case. I'm the same person. I'm like Shou, I can turn into a human from sunrise to sundown."

Leo took in all of the words, shocked that Ryo's Jaden from the past was actually Judai then entire time.

"So why did you lie to my brother and say you were twins?" Leo asked confused.

"By merfolk law, a merperson can't tell a human who they really are. If I'd have said I was really 'Jaden' or Shou had willingly told you what he was, anyone of a higher position than us has the rights to kill us as a punishment." Judai explained.

"But... doesn't that mean that you two, know that I know..." Leo asked in horror.

"It's okay, we didn't willingly show you did we. You found me out by chasing me and because you saw Judai and because I accidentally called him that, it's okay. Plus I'm pretty sure that if Ryo never told you about Jaden, you would have found out about Judai on your own terms this way as well."

"So either way, you two won't be killed?" Leo asked hoping he was right.

"Yep!" The two mermen said in unison as they nodded their heads.

"Just one question, when you said someone of a higher position, what do you mean by that?"

"In merfolk law, the king is the highest position with his wife in second. Their siblings come next in age order and personal servants come right after. Ordinary servants come next yet they are above people of the high council as there aren't many servants, only highly skilled people become them. Below the high council are their workers, then business owners going all the way down the common people of our race." Shou explained.

"So how many people would have had the rights to kill you two then?" Leo asked curiously.

"Only two could kill me and three could kill Shou," Judai stated.

"So... if the King is first and his wife is second... and their siblings come next. Judai, you're... a prince?"

"Yep, Prince Yuki Judai, heir to the throne of Arca in just 2 weeks. And Shou here is my personal high servant, the highest ranking servant there is, serving me and my parents. Heck, I can kill him but I wouldn't want to! Only mother and father can kill really, it's not my place currently."

"Hang on, heir in just 2 weeks, then what are you doing here on land?"

"Oh yeah..."

Judai then went on to explain how his father had caught him going to surface, how he lied about Ryo and said it was a girl named Alexus, how he and Shou were washed into Johan's pool and about the Coral Celebration and how if he could prove love existed, he could marry who he wanted and gain powers to transform whenever he wanted and that in 2 weeks, after the Celebration, Arca would be ruled over by Judai and his lover.

"How would Ryo come to celebration, would you have it on land or?" Leo pushed out the ending, trying to get the right answer out of them.

"He'd have to know everything, about me and what I am, consent to being a merman for a little while and gain the powers to transform whenever he wanted. If he doesn't agree though to marriage or I don't prove within the next two weeks that love exists, I'm going into a forced marriage with his bitch of a mermaid named Rei!"

"Sounds tough, anyway I can help?" Leo asked.

"Just keep pushing Ryo closer to Judai and edge him on a little..." Shou began to say.

"That should help a lot, but never mention about the real me!" Judai said sternly.

"Understood." Leo replied, "we should probably get out now."

Leo hopped out of the lake, taking his t-shirt and shoes off so he only had to deal with his wet baggy trousers. He would get home quickly and trade them for some newer clothes.

Shou and Judai both sat on the edge of the lake, twisting themselves so they lay directly in front of the sun.

Leo's eyes were blinded by the flashes of Red and Yellow as the two mermen turned into humans once more.

"That explains the flashes then, it's you two."

"Sorry, we can't help that." Judai stated.

The three shared a laugh, before walking home to Johan's house, discussing things about Judai's false identity 'Jaden' and that Shou and Leo were an official couple now, after that kiss sealed the deal between the two of them, proving their love to one another.

* * *

**Nexus: I promise that the next chapter won't be as long as this one was! I tried to keep it short but I couldn't help it!**

**Ryo: It's okay, now please tell me I'll get some more screen time next chapter.**

**Nexus: Don't worry, you and Judai will get plenty of screen time, the next chapter is mainly you and Judai once it starts. It's going to be much shorter though, as a major lead on for the next chapter. Wow, to think I actually got to chapter 6 of this, it took me ages to finish this chapter so I'm just so happy I got it finished.**

**Judai: Oh yeah, you people see the box below! Type a little review in it or some nice words and we'll get the next chapter uploaded faster!**

**Everyone: See you again when the next chapter is out!**


	8. Chapter 7: The truth

**Luchia: Well well well...**

**Kaito: Who was it that promised she would update US next and not this?**

**Nexus: *innocent look* What? I got to just over 3500 words on chapter 12 and I can't think of what goes next in the chapter. Luckily for the fans of this story, I've had a brainwave this afternoon and after finishing my normal work, I've pushed myself to get chapter 7 out! I didn't even think I would make it this far with this story. :)**

**Leo: Good for you, and thank you for finally putting me and Shou together, took you long enough.**

**Nexus: It only took 2 chapters, if I was going by my original plans, you wouldn't have done it until another 1 or 2 chapters Leo.**

**Leo: Well thank you even more! xxx**

**Nexus: *sigh* Jun, Cherise, you know the drill.**

**Jun: Nexus doesn't own any characters across the Yugioh Franchise or the film Aquamarine.**

**Cherise: Nexus does own me, Leo, all her OC's in short and also her ideas.**

**Nexus: Thank you, and with that, we can move on to chapter 7!**

* * *

Chapter 7: The truth

**- Last time -**

**The three shared a laugh, before walking home to Johan's house, discussing things about Judai's false identity 'Jaden' and that Shou and Leo were an official couple now, after that kiss sealed the deal between the two of them, proving their love to one another.**

* * *

**- At Johan's house -**

The two teens had been up since morning worrying about the two mermen. They hadn't come back yesterday in time and were fearing for the worst at the moment. Asuka had gone back to her brothers since he called her. She was sitting there on her bed too worried to pack though. Johan of course stayed at home, waiting for them to come back. He knew the two were strong, if anything had happened, they would come back.

Just as if someone from above had heard his prayer, the doorbell went.

He rushed off the sofa to go and open it, relieved when he saw who was there.

"Judai, Shou, you guys are okay!" he said relieved. His eyes then trailed over to Leo who was with them.

"Why would they be okay, did something_ happen_ to them?" Leo asked with a cheeky grin.

Johan looked beyond the grin, realising what he meant. "You... you know, don't you?"

"Know what?" Leo asked, grinning again.

Now the viridian haired teen was getting mad. "Don't play games with me Leo, I know you know about these two! Whenever you grin like that, it means you know something."

"So I know these two are mermen and I know why they're here." He then proceeded to cross his arms. "Problem?"

"Yes," Johan said matter-of-factly, "did you find out or did they tell you, it's very important."

Leo uncrossed his arms. "I found out on my own terms. These 2 got caught last night after a run in with Jun and headed to the small lake a few hundred metres from the town centre. When Shou woke up from it, I followed him and found out. And he kinda also forgot about calling Judai 'Jaden' through a fault, but that doesn't matter."

Johan sighed. "I'm just glad you two were okay."

"What?" Judai said annoyed. "Did you honestly think we would get into some kind of trouble."

"Yes." Johan said plainly.

"Well thanks man, proves how much you trust us."

Johan sighed again. "Me and Asuka were just worried about you, that's all."

After their quick conversation, Johan let the three boys in and sat them down before asking for the full story on what happened.

Not long into their talk, Asuka walked in and was a little more than concerned about what she could hear being talked about.

She slowly crept up behind Johan and grabbed him swiftly, pulling him outside.

Pinning him to the wall, she put on her angered voice, "you shouldn't be talking about Judai and Shou in front of Leo, you know what happens if he finds out! Death, both of them, do you have any idea how-"

"-Ahem" A voice interrupted, clearing his throat afterwards. Leo was leaning slightly against the door, screwed eyes. "You do realise that I know the truth about Shou and Judai?"

Asuka blinked several times before slowly letting go of Johan and quickly grabbing Leo instead, pinning him in the same position and lowering herself down slightly to his level.

"How did you find out? You realise it means death if they told you!" She shouted.

"They didn't tell me! I found out on my own terms this morning, they told me nothing and they will not die," Leo explained.

Looking into his eyes and reading his expression, Asuka saw that he meant what he said and let him go. "Sorry about that, we just don't want anything bad to happen to them. You'd better take good care of Shou now." She winked at Leo.

Leo blushed slightly. "So what if we are in love, it's not that big of a problem right?"

"Oh yes," Johan began to say with slight sarcasm tinting his voice. "It's not a big problem that Shou is only a merman who can be a human between the hours of sunrise and sunset. Yeah, no big issue there at all."

Leo's face dropped. "He told me that he might be able to get a transformation that allows him to choose, where you only transform if water touches your legs."

Johan's face then dropped too. "Oh yeah, forgot about that."

Asuka giggled slightly before heading back inside with the two to talk more about what happened, she wanted to know everything.

* * *

"So you two are most definitely a couple now?" Asuka asked, taking a sip out of her glass of water.

"Yeah," Leo began saying, putting his arm around Shou and pulling him in for a hug, "who cares if it's forbidden love."

He then proceeded with his other hand to pull Shou's face to his and began a long kiss with him.

Judai just turned away from them, Asuka and Johan smirking at him for doing so.

*Ding dong*

"I got it," Asuka said putting down her glass and walking past the still kissing couple to open the door.

"Ryo."

"Asuka." Ryo had woken up to remember that they still hadn't found Judai yet. He ran over to Johan's, thinking there was a possibility that that is where he would have returned to in the end.

He looked past Asuka to see Leo and Shou making out like the world was going to end. He just smiled at them. "I guess those two found out they were right for each other then.

Looking over to the right, he saw the one person he most wanted to see, "Judai!"

Judai snapped out of his current state hearing Ryo say his voice. Turning around, he smiled to see a very happy Ryo.

Judai just leapt off of the couch and ran into a hug with him.

"You're okay," Ryo stated. "I thought Jun had done something to you after I couldn't find you."

"Manjoume left after a while so I came back here. I'm surprised you didn't come to check here," Judai replied.

"Call it a feeling, but I thought you'd be okay." Ryo's mind then wandered over to the _real _reason he came to find Judai.

"Can I talk to you again, by the docks? There's an important issue we need to discuss, one I never finished talking about last night."

Judai went over what happened. Ryo said he'd let _Jaden _go to focus on Judai instead, even though they're both the same person. What else could he need to talk about?

"Yeah, sure." He replied simply.

Ryo then took his hand and lead him off towards the docks.

Shou and Leo stopped their kiss long enough just to hear about what Ryo had to say. Seeing as it had nothing to do with them, the couple carried on their love making feast.

Asuka and Johan looked at the two, sweat dropping. They decided to head upstairs to leave the couple in peace.

* * *

**- Meanwhile, at the DOCKS -**

Judai and Ryo were leaning against the railing, once again, waiting for one or the other to speak up first. Ryo couldn't take the patience much longer and spoke up first.

"Judai, you know who Manjoume Jun is right?" Ryo asked first.

_*Remember Judai, Jaden* Judai though._

"I think so, according to Jaden, Manjoume's an outcast merman." He lied to make it seem like he was recalling this.

"Do you know why he was outcast?" Ryo asked secondly.

_*Of course of I know! But do you?*_

"No, I was never told about it," he replied.

"He was outcast for the murder of humans. He killed Johan's parents, that's why Johan's so afraid of water. He was afraid that if he went out to sea, a similar fate would await him."

_*I knew his parents were killed, but I never knew he felt like this to that extent. Mark my words Manjoume, when I return to the sea, I am so killing you!* _Judai thought, not realising his eyes had turned dark grey in anger.

Ryo noticed this immediately. "Your eyes."

"What about my eyes?"

"They've turned dark grey, what were you thinking about that made you so angry?" Ryo asked.

"Nothing, just, Manjoume. I just wish there was some way to get revenge on him for the trauma he's caused Johan."

"You know there's nothing you can do," Ryo said softly putting a hand to his shoulder. "Manjoume lives in the sea, unless you apply for Duel Academy and follow him, there's no chance of doing anything."

"Duel Academy?" Judai asked confused.

Ryo was more than a little confused. "Come on, don't tell me you don't know about Duel Academy."

Judai just stared at him with a blank face, confusing Ryo even further. He sighed. "Never mind, I guess the only way to catch Manjoume is to be a merperson, like Jaden.

"Besides becoming the King of Arca, I don't think there's anything anyone can do," Judai muttered quickly under his breath.

"What was that?" Ryo asked, hearing his muttering.

Judai realised that what he just muttered put him in great dander.

"Um, nothing, that was, nothing." Judai began.

"That was not nothing," Ryo countered.

"Yes it was."

"You mentioned Arca."

"Yes."

"The Ancient Mermaid City."

"What about it?"

"Come on Judai, what are you hiding from me?" Ryo then grabbed his shoulders with both hands and turned him around to face himself.

"Nothing," Judai replied lowering his head.

"It's **not **nothing, it has to be something. Something has been off about you from day 1. The eye traits of a merperson but not actually being one. Always disappearing before sunset, the run in with Manjoume, he seemed really interested in you."

"He was mistaking me for my brother," Judai lied in response.

"I don't think he was. You said a minute ago all you could do to defeat Manjoume is become the King of Arca, the Ancient Mermaid City. From what you said, you're younger than your brother. Even if you were a merman, you could never take a throne if you're the younger sibling. You're hiding something very big from me. Something which you need to tell me for _this_ to work between us." Ryo explained.

Judai lowered his head once more. _*What should I do? He's already on my tail and unless I tell him now, he'll never stop until he finds out the truth. It's time*_

"I think it' time I told you the truth," Judai said in a monotone voice, walking towards the edge of the docks that were open to the waters of the ocean. "I was hoping it would never have to come to this."

Judai slowly raised his feet, almost as if he was looking to fall forward. Before he could actually take the plunge, he got hit by something in the back of the neck and fell into the water.

"Judai!" Ryo screamed as he ran towards where he'd fallen in.

A sinister voice could be heard laughing in the background.

"Manjoume!" Ryo's voice was tinged with anger, low and growling.

"What, I was only just helping the boy," he replied. In his hand was his earth sword, lined with small darts giving off a dark substance.

"That dart was a 'truth dart,' a dart that reveals a person's true self, right now, Judai will be just fine." Jun then proceeded to walk to the end of the dock and held both hands out.

They glowed red with shadow magic as he lifted them up. Once he raised them right into the sky, 2 figures came out of the ocean.

Ryo eyes went wide when he saw who'd been lifted up. "Judai! Jaden!"

"Hang on, don't tell me you still believe that. This little game of mine is going to change your views completely." Jun very carefully dropped the 2 bodies onto the edge of the docks and pulled a red orb out of the merman's body. "This is one soul. Both Judai and 'Jaden' are currently without one and it's your choice to decide who it goes back to. Whoever the soul goes back to will receive life and will return to their true form. The other will simply vanish. But, there's a twist in this. You will see the dart that hit Judai is on Jaden's neck, but this doesn't mean it's in the right body. Judai could be in Jaden's body, the merman's body with the dart still attached or it could be that this is Jaden and the dart has been switched. It's your choice as to who the soul returns to. Will you pick the merman who saved your life all those years ago, who you've been seeing ever since but you've not seen for nearly 3 weeks now. Or Judai, the human brother who you've fallen in love with more that you did his brother."

_*Crap, who should I choose? If I choose Jaden, I still wouldn't see him again and Judai would die. If I chose Judai, Arca would have no air but if I choose Jaden, I'll lose my love. But it also doesn't mean they're in the right bodies. The dart could have been switched into Jaden's body, but it doesn't mean that Judai is in that body instead. Why did they have to be really identical twins.* _Ryo though.

"Listen," Jun began. "You don't have to choose right now. I'm taking these 2 back to my lair. You're probably thinking 'how on earth would I get there?' Simple, I'm leaving you with a little parting gift."

Jun raised his sword, getting ready to fire a truth dart at Ryo. "What are you?" Ryo began but couldn't say any more as he felt the dart hit his body and his feet gave way beneath him.

"Be reborn, Marafuji Ryo. Brother of Marafuji Shou, second in command servant to the King and Queen of Arca!"

Ryo's eyes then opened and became a bright shade of blue, his memories all returning to him, memories locked away deep inside until he returned to his true form.

Ryo just managed to turn over to see Jun disappearing along with the two bodies of the brothers and the soul.

No matter how many times he tried to get his feet to respond to him, he couldn't move. He looked down to see a sight he thought he'd never see again. "My, tail?"

He quickly looked around to make sure no-one was around and he was lucky that no-one was. He looked towards his bag, realising his phone was in it, and dragged himself over to phone someone.

* * *

**- Back at Johan's -**

"I wonder why those two haven't returned yet," Johan said, thinking out loud. Once again, as if someone from above was watching over him, his phone went.

He opened it to see it was Ryo calling.

"Ryo, is everything alright?" Johan asked.

He put the phone on loud speaker for everyone to hear.

"No, everything is not alright! Something happened, something big."

"What do you mean?" Shou asked.

Recognising the voice, Ryo responded to him. "Shou, Manjoume Jun, has taken Judai. I'll explain the situation when you get down to me at the docks. You and me need to talk as well. You'll all be quite shocked about what's happened to me too."

This confused Asuka. "What's happened?"_  
_

"Let's just say, the real me has returned."

Shou's eyes widened as he gasped, Johan cutting of the conversation when he heard Shou gasp.

"Shou?" Leo asked.

"The real Ryo. My real brother, he's returned." Shou then leapt off of the couch and ran straight out of the door towards the docks.

"Oi Shou!" Leo called chasing after him, Asuka and Johan following him in pursuit.

* * *

**- Back at the docks -**

Ryo was laying there, waiting for Shou and the others to arrive, also hoping that no-one else would turn up to see him like this, he had a lot of explaining to do. Unfortunately for him, the fact that his tail hadn't been in any water yet meant he was drying out. He lay there with his head on one arm, his eyes half open, his breathing shallow but enough to keep him alive.

Shou was the first to arrive at the docks, rushing towards Ryo to check on him, shaking him in the hopes he would look at him. "Ryo, Ryo!"

The other three teens had also arrived but slowly halted when they saw the sight laid in front of them. Ryo was lying on the dock half unconscious, a tail flowing from his waist. His tail probably made Ryo another 3ft taller than he was already and was a dark blue colour, probably as dark as his hair. He also had 2 hips fins as well that were only a slightly lighter shade than his tail. His eyes were as blue as the seas, even though Ryo looked half dead, they still shone. Around his neck, also lay the Duel Monsters Card necklace with the drawing of Ryo in it from when he was 12 in human years.

_*What on earth happened him?*_ Asuka though.

_*Ryo's a... merman?* _Johan though.

_*The real Ryo, Shou's, real brother?* _Leo though.

Shou used a last resort and used his powers to lift some of the water out of the ocean and immersed Ryo's tail in it, using one hand to keep it still.

"Did you guys know he could do that?" Leo asked being the first to snap out of shock.

"We knew Judai could do things like that, so we assumed Shou could as well," Johan replied, who was next out of shock.

"Asuka?" Leo waved his hands in front of her as she was still staying shock.

She slowly walked over to where Ryo was lying, checking to see if he was waking up at all. "It's not enough is it?"

"No, it's not," Shou replied sadly.

"Maybe I can help," a voice called.

Asuka immediately looked around for the source and found the voices owner floating in the sea just below the docks.

"Cherise?" Shou asked.

"Long time no see guys, I'll help Ryo as best as I can," she replied. She closed her eyes and held her hands together as if she was praying. Looking at Ryo, green sparks were flying around his body, slowly fading into him, giving him life force.

Slowly but steadily, Ryo's eyes began to open more and his breathing became more regular.

When Ryo was finally awake and fully functioning again, Shou let his guard down and nearly splashed all the water onto the docks. Luckily, Cherise used her powers to hold it instead. "Be careful Shou, you nearly dropped this!"

"Sorry," he replied quickly. His mind was too focused on checking if Ryo was alright.

"Ryo, are you okay?" Shou asked worried.

Ryo just smiled and raised a hand to Shou's cheek. "Shou, my little brother. I'm back."

Shou began tearing up and launched into a hug with Ryo. "I never thought I'd see you again after what happened all those years ago."

"Me too, but that doesn't matter know, your brother's back," Ryo replied with a sweet smile.

"Hey, listen," Leo said interrupting the moment. "As much as I'd like to give you two some space, you've got a lot of explaining to do. Shou, why are you calling Ryo your brother? Why is Ryo a merman all of a sudden? What about me?" He ranted on for a little longer before Ryo silenced him.

"I guess me and Shou have a lot to explain to all of you, first off, what happened to Judai," Ryo began.

He then proceeded to tell them about what Ryo had done to Jaden and Judai. Of course everyone played along with it but Shou realised it was worse, if Ryo picked the wrong body altogether, then Judai would just disappear.

"No way, so you have to choose between which one lives and dies?" Johan exclaimed, trying to sound surprised.

"Yeah, I'm heading after Manjoume after this is all done. I think it's time I explained why I'm like this," Ryo began, getting ready to tell his story.

"I should start by explaining something very important. Merpeople live ten times as long as humans do. So for every 10 years that you age, we only age one year. Making me 184 years old and Shou 159 years old. Jaden would be 179 years old. This gives you an idea of what sort of time period we're working in."

"Many years ago, long before you were all born, about 200 years ago, me and Shou and Jaden were all alive as merpeople. Me and Shou were brothers on orders to protect the royal family as their top end servants. Over those years, me and Jaden grew pretty close to each other and fell in love. Sadly, Manjoume Jun wouldn't stand for it, he didn't want to see Jaden fall in love with me and swam away to make a deal with the outcast. They saw his pain and granted him a power to split apart time. When he used the power, some of the side affects went wrong and re-set time for me, Shou, Jaden, Cherise, Misawa and Rei. What he didn't realise was that the power sent me to the human world, keeping me in the same time period, 182 years ahead of their time. So in 18 years time we're back to 200 years ago again. We fear that now Jun has released me back to my true form, a merman, that he'll try to split time up again, but get rid of Cherise, Misawa and Shou. Maybe even the King and Queen of Arca. He wants more than revenge on the humans who captured him, Johan's parents, but revenge on the ones who still stop him from taking Jaden as his own."

The three teens took in all the information and Leo noticed something. "Hang on, if you two are brothers, then, what does that make me?"

"Leo, we'll discuss the issue of you later," Ryo said plainly.

"Ri-right." Leo then thought about if he was someone related in this but he was never brought up.

"Me, Cherise and Shou will go to Manjoume, you guys stay here," Ryo said, getting ready to drag himself across the deck.

"Wait! We want to help as well," Asuka exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. Unless you have a wish stored away, we can't help," Ryo explained.

"Ryo!" Cherise called from below. "Do you still know how to use the wish checker?"

"Wish checker? What's that?" Johan asked.

"The wish checker was something special of mine. A card reading ability that would read a person and tell me how many wishes they have," Ryo explained. He then thought of something genius. "Do you two have your decks on you?"

Both Asuka and Johan pulled out their decks, "why?" they both asked.

"Just give me any card and I'll wish check it for you. A number should come up and the face of the person who the wish(es) belong to."

Asuka handed him Cyber Angel- Benten and Johan handed him Ultimate Gem God- Rainbow Dragon.

Ryo smiled at the cards they picked, "of course you'd hand me these cards. Alright, here goes." He closed his eyes and focused his mind on the images of the owners of the cards. The two duel monsters cards began glowing bright blue in Ryo's hands. Once the light died, the cards had changed. On one card was Asuka's face and on the other, Johan's.

"Well, did it work?" Johan asked impatiently.

Ryo smiled again and turned the cards around for them to see. "I don't know what Shou's wish was, but whatever it was, you're very lucky to be in possession of a wish."

He was right, in the bottom left corner of each card, the number 1 had appeared and a little image of Shou's face. Both teens turned to face Shou for an explanation.

"Well, my wish when I came here was to find love like Judai, and I guess I wanted you two to help me. And in a way, I guess you did so I granted you a wish. You can thank me in later, in the mean time, you're going to need those wishes for-"

"Asuka!" A voice called in the distance.

"Oh no, Fubuki!" Asuka knew just what he wanted. Jonouchi was also in tow with him.

Storming up to her, he asked, "I've been looking for you for just over an hour now. You'd better have a good reason for sneaking out of pack- what the?"

Fubuki would have said more if his eyes hadn't drifted over to Ryo. Surprisingly both Ryo, Jonouchi and Fubuki's eyes glowed white for a second before returning to their normal colours.

Ryo smiled, "it's been a long time, Fubuki, Jonouchi"

Fubuki smiled back, "I never thought I'd see you like this again.

"Me too," Jonouchi chipped in, smiling too.

"Wait wait wait wait wait, what is going here?" Johan asked interrupting them.

"Back in the old days, Fubuki and Jonouchi were are human friends who always kept an eye out on patrol boats when they were out at sea. This way, we never got caught by human radars. In return, we always helped them by giving Fubuki new discoveries for the lab and telling Jonouchi where large fishing spots were," Ryo explained. "It seems you two still kept your same jobs I see."

Fubuki and Jonouchi just nodded.

"So, what's going on here then?" Jonouchi asked.

"Right now we don't have time, long story short, we're going to save Judai, Jun took him to his lair."

"I know you, Cherise and Shou can go, but what about all of us?" Fubuki then asked.

Ryo smiled, "luckily for us, Asuka and Fubuki have a wish each. I know this might seem selfish but due to the situation, we're going to need you both to use the wish for all of us. We can't just wish to have Judai back, he's without a soul. And we can't wish for Jun to be gone either, he's an outcast, wishes won't work on him. But, we can make all 5 of you like us for a little while."

"You mean turn us all into-" Johan began.

"Merpeople?" Asuka finished. Both of the teens faces were really worried.

"Don't worry, it's not permanent, it will only last until you surface again. And Johan, I know this means going in water, but trust me, you won't drown, I won't let anything bad happen to you." Ryo explained.

Asuka then took Johan's hand. "I won't let anything bad happen either."

Johan smiled back and with a confident look on his face said, "let's do it then!"

Before anything else could happen though, Cherise used her power to encase Ryo inside a larger body of water and very carefully transported him back into the sea. "Thank you Cherise."

"Anything for the second best servant in the seas," she replied with a little head bow.

Shou then got the 5 humans to line up on the edge of the docks and split them apart. Asuka would use her wish on herself and her brother and Johan would his wish on himself, Leo and Jonouchi.

"You five ready?" Shou asked, holding up his right hand.

Asuka nodded and went first. "I wish that me and Fubuki were merpeople."

The first two fingers on Shou's hand lit up with a white and a blue glow.

Johan also nodded. "I wish that me, Leo and Jounochi were merpeople."

The last three fingers lit up with a viridian, a black and a sandy gold glow.

Shou then proceeded to put each light to the 5 humans foreheads. The first light he transferred was the white glow to Fubuki's forehead, causing his eyes to roll, his body emitted a white glow and then he fell backwards off the edge of the docks into the waters below. Shou did this to each other human as well. The blue light to Asuka, the Viridian light to Johan, the black light to Leo, and the Sandy Gold light to Jonouchi.

When Shou was done, he too dived into the sea, floating near to his brother and Cherise.

Each human was trapped inside a little bubble of the same colour that their light had been.

Johan was the first to stir inside the bubble.

"What the?" He said to himself as he could feel his legs moulding together. He looked down to see them forming into the shape of a tail, fins flowing from the ends as well. All his clothes had seamlessly disappearing, leaving him bare-chested like all mermen and also giving him a necklace with a viridian coloured stone hanging off of it. Johan could feel colour coming to life in his tail as he watched it turn a colour much like his hair, a lovely Viridian shade. Johan just watched silently in amazement. When the colouring had finished, he felt a sharp pain in the back of his throat and his mind went dead as the bubble surrounding him popped, leaving him in this new form floating there.

"Johan!" Ryo instantly rushed over to him to check if he was alright, shaking him and calling his name a few times.

Within a few seconds, Johan's eyes opened which had now turned a slightly lighter than his new tail. "Woah, this is such a weird feeling. Being in the water again, breathing in it nonetheless."

"Now we just wait for them to come through too," Ryo said, turning Johan around so that he could see the bubbles.

Asuka's bubble was next to pop and Johan rushed right over to check she was alright, not even realising that he'd used his tail without a second thought.

Asuka's tail was the same sort of blue as the Obelisk Blue uniform and her end fins were much more wavy than Johan's, being a female. What was most intriguing was the way that her hair had grown longer. It was still the same colour and still the same style at the back but ran down to just below where her tail started. Also, two longer thicker piece of hair came over the front of her shoulders and covered her breasts. She too had a necklace with a stone hanging off of it, hers was a very deep electric blue colour. Johan being Johan just stared at her breasts, knowing he had a free showing if he moved the hair.

Asuka's eyes opened and saw Johan staring at her assets and smacked him on the cheek. Her eyes were the same blue as the stone on her necklace. She then noticed her new hair that covered them and instantly pulled her arm over them, her face becoming all flushed.

"Cherise, I thought mermaids were supposed to have something like shell bra's," she asked embarrassed.

"Oh yeah, until a mermaid is 16, she has a shell bra, I only turned 16 two days ago so we go through a rite of passage where it gets removed and our hair grows down to cover up what's there. It's considered an honour down here, we're all very open compared to you humans." Cherise explained. It was true, Cherise's cream coloured hair had grown longer. It was still all wavy at the back, coming to just below her waist line and 2 longer thicker wavy pieces covered the front.

"So that means it's a good thing Asuka," Johan smirked giving her a little nudge on the shoulder with his elbow.

Asuka's face became even more flushed and smacked him again.

Once Johan recovered, he said, "I guess I deserved that then."

"Yes you did," she said plainly crossing her arms and turning her head.

A short while after this happened, the bubbles containing Leo, Jonouchi and Fubuki had popped.

Shou rushed over to check on Leo, Cherise to Jonouchi and with some guidance, Johan helped Asuka on over to Fubuki.

Leo was first to stir out of the three to see Shou staring at him amazed. Leo looked down to see his tail was the same matt black colour as his hair, a dark black gemstone hanging off of a necklace too. His eyes were not like his tail or hair though, instead his eyes were more a medium grey shade, not dark enough to be anger.

"So, this is what it feels like," Leo contemplated as he tested out his new tail a little. Shou took his hand and guided him around so he could get used to this.

Jonouchi was next out, opening his eyes to see Cherise in front of him. Jonouchi's eyes had turn a gold colour, close to colour of pure gold as it were. His hair was still the same as ever and his tail was roughly the same colour as his hair, a sandy gold colour. He too, had a golden gem stone necklace. Staring down, a stunned look took over his face.

"You okay?" Cherise asked intrigued.

"Yeah, just never thought I'd see a day where I had a tail," he said slowly, still a little shocked that this was even possible.

Fubuki was the last one to wake up, doing the same that Johan had had, staring right at the two pieces of hair that covered his sisters breasts. His eyes lighting up and a smirk forming on his face.

Asuka noticed this immediately and smacked him one swimming back a bit. "Why of all brothers did I have to have one who's a right perv?" she shouted.

Fubuki's tail was a pure white colour, the same pure white that were now the colour of his eyes. His hair stayed the same but you could see some white streaks appearing throughout it. Fubuki also had a white gem stone hanging off of a necklace.

"Well, I guess it deserved it but come one, you are a blessed woman Asuka." Fubuki said smiling.

Asuka's face became even more red whilst Johan and Fubuki could be seen in the background giving each other a high-five.

Cherise then swam over to Asuka. "Come on, you should be more open! After all your brother is right, you are a blessed woman," Cherise the began holding Asuka's breasts in her hands feeling the size of them. "Seriously, how does a woman have breasts this big without having a job done to them. They're so heavy as well, aren't they a burden you.

"Well, they are kinda, um, could you please let go now?" Asuka pleaded, her voice very soft.

Cherise then gave her an 'I'm sorry' face and let go.

Ryo then cleared his throat, gaining everyone's attention. "Well, if we're all comfortable with these new forms, then we should be heading out, to Manjoume Jun's lair."

Everyone nodded and began swimming. Ryo was in the front with Shou and Cherise by his sides, behind them were Leo, Jonouchi and Fubuki, and behind them were Johan and Asuka, holding hands for comfort. Johan wasn't still all too comfortable being in the water but considering he couldn't drown and Asuka was by his side, he was actually enjoying himself.

Ryo's speed slowly increased, distancing himself a little from the front line. He was more than eager than to find Judai and get this whole mess sorted out.

_*Mark my words Judai, I will save you!*_

* * *

**Nexus: I didn't think I was ever going to get this chapter out!**

**Leo: Well you did it in the end didn't you?**

**Nexus: Yeah, if it didn't require three nights of staying up late writing this with watching Zero Punctuation as the only way to retain my staying awake state. y the way, go watch Zero Punctuation on youtube, bunch of funny game reviews. ^_^**

**Oh and I will be updating this story next, just about to go write chapter 8! There will be about 10 chapters to this one story and then I will create a second story and maybe some one-shots on the side for fun.**

**Everyone: See you all again when chapter 8 is out! xxx **\ (^ o ^ ) /

**Nexus: Oh yeah, don't forget my Pen Name is now WhiteNexusian!**


	9. Chapter 8: Life and Death

**Nexus: I said I would update this story next and I meant it. I also mean it when I say things in this chapter are going to get very deep!**

**Ryo: How deep exactly, I thought the last chapter was bad enough when you gave me my memories back?**

**Nexus: Yes, but in this chapter, you're going to have to choose between saving Jaden or Judai, have fun with that.**

**Ryo: O_O I forgot about that...**

**Cherise: Since Jun is busy in his lair, I'm here to do it all. Disclaimer, Nexus doesn't own any characters across the Yugioh franchise or the film Aquamarine. However, she does own all her ideas and OC's like me and Leo for example.**

**Nexus: And with that, chapter 8 here we come!**

* * *

Chapter 8: Choosing between life and death

**- Last time -**

**Ryo's speed slowly increased, distancing himself a little from the front line. He was more than eager than to find Judai and get this whole mess sorted out.**

**_*Mark my words Judai, I will save you!*_**

* * *

To Johan, he'd felt like he'd been swimming for hours in a straight line. "Ryo, how long until we reach Jun? It feels like it's been ages."

"If we keep up this pace, we'll be there within another hour or just under that time," Ryo said plainly. His mind was so distracted on finding Judai and seeing Jaden again. For you see, when the times were old, Judai's name really was Jaden which gives Ryo more sense to think he does have a brother. He can only remember Jaden as an image, there are only one or two memories of him which are the ones from when Ryo was locked as a human, when Jaden saved him.

Johan sighed, "another whole hour?"

"Like I said, if we swim faster, we can make it in under that time," Ryo pointed out.

With a sudden burst of motivation, Johan sped ahead of everyone else. "Then let's hurry up then!"

"Hey, you don't know which way you're going," Cherise called, bringing Johan to an abrupt halt.

"Oh yeah, forget about that," he said sheepishly as everyone else swam past him, Johan recouping with Asuka at the back.

Asuka sighed at him, "you really can be a fool sometimes Johan."

"Sorry."

After what really did feel like another hour of swimming, Ryo held his arm out, halting everyone. "We're here."

In front of them lay the land of the outcast. You could go so far as to say nature was sick here. All the corral was rotten and grey, the seaweed black and lifeless, the water a little more murkier than the rest of the seas. The perfect home for an outcast. The entire area looked so barren. There were one or two little homed here built from pieces of wrecked ships, ones which the outcast destroyed themselves.

Ryo knew which house he was looking for, the boat of Johan's parent's, the boat still all in one piece of course.

After a few minutes of searching, Johan was the one to find it.

"My parent's old boat, what's it doing here?" Johan questioned, trying to keep the tears out.

"Remember that Jun was the one who killed them. He took their boat as his new home. But knowing him, this will just be a base. They'll be an underground portal due to him wielding earth magic, all homes of the outcast have a special room in them, accessible by a portal reflecting their element." Ryo explained. "I want you all to stay out here."

"Then why did we even come with you then?" Jonouchi asked.

"I need you to keep an eye out in case any other outcast see me. None of them can know I've returned. Cherise is welcome here but you lot aren't, so I suggest you hide or learn how to kill anyone who attacks you. I think it's in the best interest if Shou waits inside the boat. He's the only other known person here the outcast know about and if anyone asked, you 5 are all recent outcasts, you lost your homes and you ended up out here. And Cherise, give these guys a quick run down on how to fight, those stones should give weaponry power."

"Of course Ryo," Cherise said bowing to him a little.

"In that case, I'm off." And with that said, Ryo and Shou began navigating their way through the boat to find the earthly portal. Once they reached the cabin section of the boat, Shou decided it was best if he stayed there.

Ryo then carried on to find the portal, he checked all the rooms, the dining area, the toilet. "Nothing."

He then realised the one place he hadn't checked was the underground store room. He remembered that Johan's mother had once shown him this room, a room deep in the ship where they hid extra power and food/ drink supplies for long days out.

Ryo swam down the flight of the stairs and found the door, with a massive chain across it and several padlocks stopping anyone from entering.

"The man always was a person of great security. If the portal isn't behind here, I don't know where else he would hide it." Ryo said to himself. "Now, how to get these padlocks off?"

A memory shot through his brain like a speeding bullet. He was granted an elemental power by the King for being a high end servant and guard to his son back in the days, the element of steel.

Though Ryo didn't need a sword to do this, he could make any part of his body like steel for a very short amount of time, useful for short high end defence.

He looked at the locks and saw the point where the strike would break everything. He swam back a bit and flipped forward, transforming his tail fins into blades of steel at the last second, the fins swiping through the chain in one sharp movement, a massive clunk following as all the chains and locks sunk to the floor.

Ryo smirked, "still got it."

He proceeded to very carefully open the door, making sure there were no traps hidden. When he saw there were no traps, he was happy to see he'd found the earthly portal, very much like a shadow portal, but used for the underground only.

The second he touched the portal, he was dropped underground. When he sat up, he noticed he had been returned to human form but with some changes. Even though he couldn't see them, his eyes had stayed the same blue colour and he had some highlights of the same colour running through his hair, more of them gathering at the bottom ends of it. He'd also regained the power to change the colour of his eyes based on emotion now he'd returned to human form.

The other reason why he couldn't see much was because the area around was all dark except for the small amount of light shining down from the portal.

He also noticed he was still underwater as he could feel it stir around him, yet gravity had taken full force. He could also hear a small amount of sinister laughing in the far distance.

He gritted his teeth, knowing it was Jun's voice and stood up trying to see a light anywhere.

"If you need a light, then here..." Jun's voice rung out through the room as one side of it lit up to reveal 2 individuals chained by the hands on a wall and chained at the legs/ tail to the floor so they couldn't escape if something happened.

"Judai, Jaden!"

"Heh, scream their names all you want, they won't hear you." Jun replied stepping out of the darkness, his body black like shadows. When he snapped his fingers, the shadows faded and he became his fighting form, black trousers and earth sword with arrows ready to fire in hand.

Ryo swiped his right arm across his body as his old trusty longsword of steel appeared in his right hand.

"I see you remember your element. You wouldn't have gotten down here otherwise," Jun pointed out. "You would have sliced the lock open with your fins, looking for the one point where it would all break, and it seems you did."

Ryo was getting rather impatient now. "You know the reason I came here, to choose which one of these two lives and dies." He turned his head to the two lifeless bodies and sighed.

"Oh," Jun began to say, lowering his sword, "didn't think you'd have chosen by now. It's all your choice, if you defeat me in a fight!" He re-raised his sword as his eyes glowed dark green and black.

Before Ryo could do anything, his eyes glowed the same colours and took him into his fighting form. Much like all other male fighting forms, he was bare chested and had a pair of black trousers on too. A silver chocker ran around his neck, a small silver chain dangling from it at the side. He was also bare footed. His longsword stayed, being about 5ft in length. His too was forged from Mytherial steel, but a much stronger purer rarer kind of steel and mixed ores like Hazy Lead and a slight trace of Titanium crystals scattered through it, making it glint slightly against the light. In his other hand was a large royal crest shaped shield, made from the same components as the sword, but there were more Titanium crystals and the slightest amount of fire gleaming in the middle, perfect for dealing with some of the pesky earth arrows quicker.

"Jun, I don't want to fight with you," Ryo said lowering his guard.

Jun laughed at this. "If you ever want one of these two to live, to see them again, you'll need to fight me!" He then quickly fired off 7 bolts which Ryo just managed to defend with his shield.

* * *

Back up in the Cabin, Shou was having lots of thought about what to do.

_*Maybe it's time to deploy the master plan, a way to get Jun out of the way without anyone getting hurt,_* Shou though to himself. _*I've got to do this! Not just for my brother, but for Judai too.*_

Shou knew just where his brother had gone, he heard the chains clunk earlier and remembered the direction of the sound. He followed it all the way down to the store room and found the earth portal.

He very carefully poked his head through it, not realising that gravity took full force and pulled Shou right down to the ground, transforming him back to human form as well. Though all of Shou's clothes that he last wore as a human had appeared.

He could faintly hear and see Jun and Ryo fighting each other in the background, Ryo just fending off as many of the attacks without having to strike as he could. Shou realise that for this to work, he had to very silently sneak up behind Jun and give him a shot in the back with his magic.

He stood there in silence, waiting for the right moment.

Jun took a rather large jump into the air and fired some more arrows at Ryo, he of course fending them off with his shield.

_*Here goes*_ Jun thought to himself, firing himself very quickly at Ryo's body, making him slide backwards as bit as their swords clashed against each other, neither side budging.

_*Now, here's my chance!*_ Shou though, running behind Jun and placing his hand on his back, his hand glowing blue, charging up an attack.

"Shou!" Ryo shouted in seeing his brother.

Jun tried to turn his head quickly behind him to see Shou but it was a little too late.

Ryo stepped to the side quickly as Shou's hand pulsed blue and fired Jun at high speed into the wall in front of him.

When Jun eventually recovered from his smash into the wall, his eyes diverted straight to the blue haired kid.

"What are you doing here? This fight is between me and Ryo, not you!" Jun shouted angrily.

Shou smirked at his words. "Sorry Jun, but that's not going to happen," Shou replied as he quickly forced his hand that glowed blue into the ground.

Luckily, Jun had no idea what magic Shou possessed and had never seem him fight before. Jun never saw Shou as a fighting type and therefore never kept an eye on his element or how he fought.

Shou summoned four blue glowing seaweed type branches from the ground below Jun and grabbed his wrists and ankles with them, holding him in the air slightly.

"What the!" Jun remarked as he tried to break free from Shou's magic, but to no avail, he couldn't escape. "What kind of magic is this?"

"Royal light magic, granted from the King when I swore I would help him take you down," Shou explained briefly before noticing something glowing red on Jun's right wrist.

"Ryo, slice his right wrist for me," Shou asked turning to his brother.

"Why?"

"Just do it, I'll prepare the final blow," Shou replied rather darkly.

Shou then summoned a white portal behind Jun, the outside of it glowing blue showing that it was connected to another portal.

Ryo obeyed his little brothers words and walked over the Jun, preparing to slice it. He took a nice swing at his wrist with just enough force to slit it open, yet not enough to slice the whole wrist off from his body.

"AHHHHHH!" Jun screamed in pain and the blood dripped from his open wound onto the floor, a red orb falling from it as well.

Ryo picked it up, looking at it from all over, finally realising what it was. "The Soul."

Jun grimaced at the pain and the fact that they'd got the Soul back from him without completing their fight.

"I'm sorry Jun, I knew that if you'd taken his soul, you wouldn't be likely to give it back at all. When I was with the King, we devised a plan to get rid of you and you've blindly fallen for it." Shou then held back his right hand, glowing with blue aura again but with much more than last time. "This will be your downfall!"

Shou then leaped at Jun, his hand making contact with his body, pulsing for a few seconds before sending Jun flying at great speed through the portal, knocking him unconscious from the blow as well.

"Ryo, take care of Judai, I need to make sure this works," Shou said briefly before running through the portal after Jun, transforming back to his normal self when he went through the portal.

Flying out on the other end, Jun had transformed back too and was now slowly sinking into the depths of a huge crater somewhere on the other side of the world.

Shou poked his head through the portal on the other end, making sure that Jun had sunken fully before swimming back through on the other side.

Arriving back, he disbanned the portal and looked at his brother who was staring back at him in confusion.

"When did you set this all up?" Ryo asked.

"A while back," Shou replied, getting ready to tell Ryo his story.

**- Flash back -**

_"My King, there is one more thing I would like to discuss," Shou said bowing to Judai's parents._

_This is back when Shou was asking about Cherise, a scene that never you never saw._

_"What is it?" the King asked._

_"It's about Manjoume Jun, I've got a plan that might just get rid of him."_

_"Go on." The King ushered._

_"A while back, I discovered a rather large deep crater on the other side of the world. I was taking a trip and devised this plan a while ago. Being able to create portals, I placed one there but never finished the other end of it, and I still haven't. The plan is to lure Manjoume through that portal and blast him into the crater where should he ever wake, he would not be able to escape." Shou explained._

_"And how would you plan on doing this?" Queen Mei asked._

_Shou blushed slightly, "and this is where I need I some help in this plan. I would need to use some Royal light magic to hold Jun in place whilst I prepare a deadly blast that would knock him backwards through the portal and sink him into the crater."_

_Yoruu and Mei looked at each other, Mei nodding to her husband, knowing this was the right thing to do._

_*That's it, you're never gonna get this magic now,* Shou thought to himself as he turned around._

_"Shou," the King said clearly getting his attention._

_"Yes, my King," Shou replied sadly turning back to them._

_"I'll lend you some of my magic."_

_Shou sighed. "I though you'd say that and... wait... you're giving me some?" Shou asked excited._

_"Of course I am Shou, it's a good plan, use my magic wisely and put this plan of yours into action." The King replied._

_His stood up and swam down to Shou, holding out his hands to Shou._

_Shou placed his hands on the Kings, a blue Aura surrounding them as the King passed some of his light magic onto Shou._

_"There, that should be enough to hold Jun tightly for a while, good luck with this plan Shou. But for now, are you going to go save Cherise or what?"_

_"Of course my lord!" Shou replied, then hurrying through the portal Queen Mei had created for him._

**- End Flash Back -**

Ryo smiled at his brother and gave him a hug. "I never thought my brother would be that smart. Now go wait back in the cabin, I've got an important decision to make."

Shou let go of his brother, realising he was being serious about this being a BIG important decision. "Of course brother."

Shou then jumped into the air, touching the portal and being taken back to the other side of it, silently swimming back to the cabin.

* * *

**- Back in the Outcast zone -**

Everyone was sitting down on piles of Junk, sighing every now and then in boredom.

"Hey," Johan said speaking up. "How long do you think it takes to save one person?"

"It will take a while, Ryo's got a big decision to make, and if he doesn't choose right, Judai will die basically," Cherise explained once more. She told them all that if Ryo didn't choose the real Judai and chose the fake body, that body would fade away along with the real Judai's body, leaving no hope for Arca and for Ryo.

* * *

**- Back in the Earthly Portal - (well, with Ryo)**

Ryo stood there staring at Judai and 'Jaden', his mind and heart beat racing. All he could hear was his heart beating.

_*My minds telling me that Jun just changed the position of the dart. That the human is Judai and the merman is Jaden. My minds telling me to save Jaden, without him, Arca would have no future ruler and would be thrown into chaos in the future. And being returned to what I once was, I can't go back to the life I had on the surface, I just can't! Yet my hearts telling me to save Judai, the man I've fallen in love with, the one who's been there for me recently, the man I'm in love with. But even if I do save him, I would have to make him give up his life so he could join mine. Who should I chose?!"_*

Ryo's eyes began welling up slightly at even thinking that he would never see one of these two again. What would he choose? The future of Arca or the future of his love?

Ryo stood there in silence for another minute before going over his options, finally making a choice, slowly walking towards the two.

Firstly, he sliced the chains that were holding the two the walls, their arms falling limply to their side.

"Jaden, I'm sorry I can't remember any of our memories. Arca will find a way to follow without you, I'll make sure of it. Judai, you're just too important to me for me to ever let go of you. You're the one I love, the one who makes me feel safe and secure, the one who can truly make me happy and make me smile."

He leaned down to pick up Judai's limp form, carrying him bridal style and slowly hovering the orb, his soul, over his body.

As the orb slowly entered his body, a red glow engulfed him all over, making it so that you could only see the shapes of his body and the outlines.

A massive red circle grew below Ryo's feet and grew upwards creating a cylinder that trapped them.

Ryo noticed something strange was happening to Judai's body. His legs were being slowly pulled together, the line where they joined, seamlessly coming together. Once his feet connected, a pair of fins fanned out from the bottom of them, creating...

"A tail?" Ryo said shocked and confused. "But this means... I chose Jaden?" He said to himself slightly saddened by this.

The cylinder around them slowly faded as did the light from the merman's body, leaving him limp in Ryo's arms.

After a few more minutes, Ryo could feel him stir as his eyes slowly opened.

"Jaden! Are you alright, it's me, your 'Zane'." Ryo said as not confuse the boy.

The merman just smiled at his words. "Ryo."

Now this made Ryo tense up a little. _*I never told him what my real name was!*_ "Did you just call me, Ryo?"

The merman then raised a hand to Ryo's face. "There's no point in me lying to you any more. I told you on the docks it was time I told you the truth."

"What truth?" Ryo asked, still stunned and filled with confusion.

"I never told you my real name 6 years ago because it was against the law. But after all the time I've spent with you over this last month, its time you knew." The merman explained.

"But..." Ryo began to say, unable to find the words to say to him.

"It's me... Judai. Yuki Judai."

Ryo just gasped at the words just spoken to him. "Yuki... Judai?"

"I bet you're really confused about this, but it's time you knew. There never was a Jaden, that was never my real name. It's always been Judai. The merman who saved you when you were 12, that was me. When I was on land and told you I was the human brother of the merman who is me, I lied. That was me and is me. Disappearing after sunset, because it transforms me back to this. I could only be human from sunrise to sunset. Jun appearing and telling you I wasn't who I said I was, he knew it was me the entire time. Don't hate me for my lies, it was against the law to ever tell a human our real names, I'm sorry." Judai explained, closing his eyes at the end in shame.

"So you're telling me..." Ryo began to say in a soft voice, "the merman who I haven't seen for the last month, was you? You were him the entire time?" Ryo's eyes welled up a bit more at the end.

"I'm sorry, you have no idea how hard it's been to hide this, not wanting to hide this!"

Ryo then pulled Judai closer to him, turning his face to meet his own.

"Ryo?"

Ryo just smiled back at Judai, "I'm not mad... I'm happy."

Judai gasped slightly. "So, you're not mad at me, after everything that's happened?"

"I couldn't be mad at you. It turns out I've been keeping a secret as well. I'm just like you, a merman by blood."

Now it was Judai's turn to tense up in shock. "Explain."

"You probably don't remember but, 200 years ago, you and me lived together. I was one of you, Shou was my brother and you were still a Prince. Manjoume Jun was still like he is now and became jealous of us and got help to cast a spell that reset time so he could alter it. Although, something went wrong and I was sent 182 years forward to the human world, trapped in a human body with no memories of my previous life or you or anyone. Before Jun took your soul and brought you to his lair, where we are now, he hit me with the same dart he hit you with, a truth dart. If you hadn't guessed, that turned me back to my original self, all of my memories returning, except the ones of you, when your name was Jaden. Maybe that's why I called you that, perhaps a part of me remembered your name and called you that even though your name in this time is Judai."

"So, you were once my guard and Shou's brother?" Judai asked making sure he'd got that right.

"Yes, and I still am young prince of Arca, and you're still the one I love. In those times, you and me became very close, much like we have on land for the last month. I love you, Judai."

Ryo then proceeded to lift the boys face closer to his, as their lips joined in their first kiss.

They finally broke apart when they felt deprived of oxygen.

"Me too," Judai finally replied.

"We should probably get going, everyone's waiting for us," Ryo said before jumping up through the portal, he himself transforming when they reached the other side.

"Wait, what do you mean the others?" Judai asked confused.

Ryo smiled and took his hand, "you'll see when we get outside." He then pulled Judai along with him to the cabin to pick up Shou.

Shou couldn't stop smiling when he saw Judai. "Judai, you're okay!" Shou screamed in happiness as he launched himself into Judai, hugging him at the waist.

Shou then un-hugged him and looked at this brother, realising what he just said. "I don't... I didn't mean to call him... he's not..."

Ryo just laughed at Shou's attempts to say he didn't mean to call Judai 'Judai.' "It's okay Shou, I know everything and it's fine."

Shou then sighed, "oh thank ra!"

The three of them then swam out of the ship to see everyone sat down as bored as hell, Judai's face littered with shock and amazement.

"Asuka, Johan, Jonouchi, Leo, Fubuki, how did you all...?" Judai began to say unable to find the words he wanted to say.

"Judai!" All 5 of them replied, swimming over to their friend and surrounding him as it were.

"Judai, you're okay," Johan exclaimed, happy to see he was alive.

Just like Shou, all five of them turned to Ryo, stuttering words like Shou had done too.

Ryo just smiled and held his hand out to them in a 'stop' form, halting their speaking. "It's okay, I know who he really is and he knows about me, it's all fine."

"So, explain to me how you 5 ended down here too," Judai said, putting a hand on Johan's shoulder.

Johan and Asuka then explained what had happened with Shou's wish and how they'd used it to save him.

Judai just smiled. "I can't believe you guys used your wish like that just to save me."

"We wanted to at least see that you were okay, after all, we've made a really good friend in you," Asuka explained.

"At least stay with me for a few more days before returning to the surface, you can stay in the palace," Judai offered.

"Is it really wise for Ryo to go back? I mean, no-one really knows what happened to him and if he just returns now..." Leo began to ask.

"I'll be fine, I think they'll be happy to see me back," Ryo pointed out.

"What about you Judai? You finally gonna tell your parents about, you know..." Asuka asked.

Judai remembered that he hadn't told his parents he was gay still. But if he was Ryo's lover in his last life, surely they'd be fine with it this time. They must have been fine with it last time. "I think it'll be fine, they'll come 'round."

And with that said, the 9 of them began swimming back to the palace. Ryo and Judai lead in the front, holding hands the entire time, just happy to be together with no more real complications. Shou and Leo lead behind, holding hands too, talking about Ryo. Cherise was next, with Jonouchi and Fubuki to either side of her, talking about life down here. And bringing up the rear, Johan and Asuka too held hands, talking about just being here.

* * *

**- At the Palace Gates -**

Man, it had been one long swim back to the palace from the outcasts land. They were incredibly lucky that no-one from there had seen them at all.

Upon reaching the gates, Shou looked up again to see the same brown haired monkey faced merman asleep on his duties yet again.

"Saru!" He shouted at the top of his voice to wake him up, the majority of everyone else covering their ears.

The man slowly stirred from his sleep. "Man, who disturbs me in the middle of a perfectly good nap?" He asked himself, rubbing his eyes.

Ryo laughed. "Just like the Saru I remember."

Saru's ears perked up when he heard that voice. He looked out over his tower and was more than shocked at the sight he saw.

"Marafuji Ryo? It can't be, but it is! Haha, how did you..." Saru then scratched his head still trying to work out how Ryo had returned.

"There will be time for catching up later, until then, I've got a Prince and some 'guests' to take back to the palace," Ryo explained.

"The Prince, he's back?"

Ryo then brought Judai into a hug with him to show Saru he was back.

"Prince Judai, how did the hunt for the human go?" Saru asked.

Judai laughed. "Turns out the human was Ryo, my old lover locked in human form and shot forward in time."

"And um, the guests?" Saru pointed out.

The rest of the gang then swam around Ryo and Judai in a circle almost.

"Well, everything seems to be in order, alright, welcome home everyone," Saru said, bowing and then opening the Golden Coral gates to the city.

Shou took the lead toward the palace, Ryo and Judai in follow, then Cherise, Jonouchi, Leo and Fubuki with Asuka and Johan at the back.

As they swam, many of the villagers stopped their talks and all stared at the crowd.

"Hey, isn't that?" One villager began to say.

"Is that Ryo? Marafuji Ryo?" Another one asked.

They passed many others, Ryo waving to all of them that were happy to see his return.

Passing one certain merman though made Jonouchi freeze right on the spot.

The merman turned towards Jonouchi, the same surprised look on his face.

"Is that.. Kaiba Seto?" Jonouchi asked in shock, unable to take his eyes of the leader of Kaiba Corp and his old friends arch rival.

"Jonouchi Katsuya?" Kaiba asked back in the same tone.

"Kaiba... I guess, this explains why you look like you haven't aged in 20 years, you were a merman all along," Jonouchi guessed.

"I'm guessing you aren't though, considering you have aged since we last saw each other. As to this... I'll find out later. And as for the rest of you, Tenjouin Fubuki, Tenjouin Asuka and Johan Andersen, I'll find out about you three later as well."

Since Kaiba was the owner of Duel Academy, he always seemed to remember some of the students he'd once met. Which happened to be Asuka, Johan and Fubuki, of course, he met Fubuki before he met Asuka and Johan.

They then carried on toward the palace, thinking about just how many other people there were out there that they knew that could be down here as well.

Misawa Daichi was once again on duty of guarding the palace gates and had just noticed Shou coming towards him in the distance.

Once again, he held his hand out when he saw Shou swimming faster, and once again, Shou flew straight into his hand.

"Why do you always have to do that to me Misawa?" Shou asked annoyed.

"Because, it's fun to see you get annoyed every now and then," Misawa replied.

He then looked up to see the two who had next followed them.

He bowed down. "Good to see you home again, Prince Yuki Judai."

"Likewise Misawa," Judai replied.

"But you... I never thought I'd see the day you returned to us, Kaiser Ryo."

"Me too," Ryo replied holding out his hand for Misawa to shake.

"Misawa, didn't forget about us did ya?" Johan asked swimming up to the group, everyone else following.

"Johan, Asuka, Fubuki, Jonouchi, Leo... how did you five?" Misawa began to ask unable to find the words.

"We'll explain later," Judai said. "But um, do you reckon we could all see my parents, we've got some major explaining to do."

"But, what about the human you were trying to find?" Misawa asked.

Ryo simply brought Judai into a hug with him.

Misawa's face lit up when he realised it. "Ryo, was the human? You are one lucky Prince you are Judai."

Judai just smiled back at him.

"Alright, if you would all just follow me then," Misawa asked opening the palace gates and leading the group inside.

Going down the corridors, everyone was just in awe at the beautiful site. When they got close to the throne room, Misawa stopped them.

"Wait here," he asked before swimming inside.

He bowed down before his King and Queen. "My King, your son has returned."

King Yoruu was very pleased at this news. "He's returned?"

"Yes, and he's bought some 'guests' with him. Should I send them all in?"

"No, bring only my son through, I wish to speak to him."

"Yes my King," Misawa replied bowing once more and left the room.

"He wants to see you only for now Judai," he told Judai before waiting with everyone else.

Judai then swam in, his parents smiling, glad to see his son back again.

"Well, I'm back," he said plainly.

"So I see, it's good to see you back and in one piece my son. Now, about this human girl you were trying to find, did you prove love exists?"

Judai then put him arms behind his back, knowing he had to tell them the truth. "Listen, there's something I need to tell you. Something that I should have told you a long time ago." He took a deep breath. "I'm gay."

Yoruu's ears pricked up when he heard his son say that.

_*That's it Judai, you're dead!*_

But to his surprise, his father rose off of his throne and swam down to his son and pulled him into a hug.

"Dad?"

"I'm just glad you finally told us the truth. We had an inkling back when you first met Rei that you weren't the type to fall for a girl? So why did you lie to us and say it was a human girl you'd fallen for?" Yoruu asked.

"Because, because I was afraid of what you'd think of me, that you'd hate me," Judai replied truthfully.

He then let go of his son and held him in front of him. "We'd never hate you for that! You're our son Judai, and we love you no matter what, even if you're gay."

Judai's face lit up in happiness when his father had said that.

"So, the human then..." Yoruu said, getting back onto the subject.

"Well, they are here right now, but, you'll be surprised to see who it is," Judai explained.

"Really now? Call for them then," Yoruu ordered.

Judai swam towards the hall and called the name. "Ryo, come here."

"Ryo?" Yoruu asked as Judai swam to his fathers side.

Ryo then swam forward out of the shadows of the hall and into the light, smiling when he saw his King and Queen again.

Mei and Yoruu both gasped when they saw which Ryo it was.

"Is that, really you? Marafuji Ryo?" Queen Mei asked in shock.

Ryo bowed. "It's been a long time, Queen Mei, King Yoruu."

"Ryo, we thought we'd never see you again after that incident nearly 200 years ago," Yoruu said happily.

"Trust me, I never thought I'd return here after all that time either," Ryo replied.

"What happened to you anyway, where did you go?" Queen Mei questioned.

Ryo smiled and gestured for Judai to come next to him so they could explain their story.

"I was locked in the body of a human, locked away for 182 years until I was born into that human body." Ryo began.

"When he was 12, me and him then re-met each other on the night he fell from the dock. I knew him as Zane and he knew me as Jaden." Judai followed.

"We'd been seeing each other for many weeks after that, well, 6 years is more like it."

"And that lead us to the night when you found me swimming to the surface father, the night we made that deal. After sending me ashore, I met Ryo once more. I had to lie and say that Jaden was my non-human brother as to not break the Mer-Code of not revealing ourselves. Since he'd only known me as Jaden, telling him my real name, Judai, didn't apply to the code."

"Since then, we'd had some fun times, but it was only until today when I returned to this form. Manjoume Jun had hit me with a truth dart and released me from my human prison. Once I'd rescued Judai along with some help from my brother, Shou, we've defeated Jun and all returned safe and sound."

"Well, that's some story. And it does prove something, love does exists. It managed to transcend across time and still exists in you two just like it used to 200 years ago. Shou is with you as well?" King Yoruu asked.

"Yes, Shou!" Judai called.

Shou then came out of the hallway too and bowed to his King and Queen. "My King and Queen."

"You've served us well Shou, you made sure Judai was okay this entire time and your plan to take down Manjoume Jun has worked as well." Queen Mei said.

"Yep, I'm so glad he's finally gone," Cherise responded, swimming out of the hallway as well.

"Cherise, glad to see you recovered from the poison and that at least you're okay." King Yoruu mentioned.

"Of course I'm fine," she replied bowing to him. "I may be an outcast but I still respect my old King and Queen."

Queen Mei then looked at her husband and nodded to him, of which he nodded back.

"Cherise, because of all these recent events, we've decided to lift your status as an outcast and welcome you back to the Palace as one of our chefs once more," Queen Mei explained.

Words couldn't even describe how happy Cherise was. "You, you're letting me back?"

"Of course, besides, I've actually missed your cooking," Mei told her smiling.

"One more thing though," Judai began. "We'd like you to meet the 5 humans who helped us all. I think without them, none of this would have happened."

Asuka, Johan, Leo, Fubuki and Jonouchi then swam into the throne room and all bowed before the King and Queen, seeing as how you would bow down before any royalty.

Yoruu scanned them all. "I thought you said they were humans?"

"Your majesty," Fubuki began to say, bowing again. "All 5 of us would not be here like this is we hadn't of had 2 wishes from Shou. We wished to be like this until we returned to the surface so that we could all help save Judai."

"You... all used the only wishes you had just to save my son?" Yoruu asked shocked. _*Is this... human nature?*_

"Yeah, we all care for Judai, over the last month, we'd made a really good friend in him and we didn't want to lose him," Johan explained.

Yoruu smiled softly. "I think I owe you five my biggest thanks for making sure my son was alright and for using your only wish on him. So, in return, I'm going to grant you all one wish each and it's a royal wish so there are no limitations, except for more wishes, on what you can wish for."

The small group broke out into joy and cheers before turning back to the King. "Thank you, your majesty."

Yoruu giggled. "Please, just call me Yoruu, I'm tired of the whole 'your majesty' thing anyway."

Mei then turned to them as well, "same here, feel free to call me Mei."

After Yoruu had transferred a wish to each person, he asked them, "will you be joining us for dinner tonight?"

"Why not," Johan quickly replied. "I think it would be a pleasure to dine with the King and Queen of the ocean."

With that said, Cherise hurried swiftly back into her Kitchen which she had missed working in so much, she was going to prepare a special meal for tonight!

Shou and Judai then lead their 5 friends for a tour of the castle and also showed them which rooms they would be sleeping in. Ryo would be sleeping with Judai, Leo would be sleeping with Shou, Johan and Asuka would be sleeping together and that just left Jonouchi and Fubuki to share a room.

Everything was finally back to normal...

* * *

**- In that crater -**

"What the... where am I?" Manjoume asked himself slowly stirring from his knock out from earlier. Him mind informed him of the previous events of being knocked back into a portal.

He looked around trying to find a light but down in the crater, no light could get into it, leaving Manjoume in the pitch dark, his only sense being able to feel the sandy floor and a very rugged sharp wall.

He gritted his teeth. "If I ever get out of here, I will kill you! Yuki Judai, Marafuji Ryo, I will not let you two have your happiness!"

* * *

**Nexus: Well, that didn't take me nearly 3 weeks to finish!**

**Johan: What the hell where you doing inbetween then besides college work and catching up on hours and hours of missed sleep?**

**Nexus: I began writing another story which I'm doing in one go! It has 8000 words so far and I'm not even 1/3 of the way done so it should be a good simple story. Spoiler: It's based on the song 'The Little Mermaid' by Megurine Luka which is the sad version.**

**Even so, I hope you all enjoyed my incredibly late chapter. Everyone got to be together in the end but it doesn't mean the danger is over now that Jun has woke up, doesn't mean he has any chance of escaping though either, who knows what will happen.**

**Everyone: See you all after the new story for chapter 9!**


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